Here We Go Again
by Yvette Howels
Summary: An orphan who knows nothing about herself goes to Hogwarts, finding out she has a dark truth in her past, present, and future. Previously 'A Dark Truth'.
1. Unexpected

_Authors Note:__ As on from now, there is no need for any more disclaimers, as you all know that I do not own Harry Potter, but I do own only Nemesis Riddle._

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**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter One: Unexpected.**

It is the 28th of August, 2021, and here I am, in the orphanage, in the dinner hall, eating. I'm waiting, along with the other orphans, for some woman to come in to tell us to follow her to the bus that will take us to the beach. Yes, we're going to the beach. I honestly don't feel like going. It's cold, and it's raining, and I prefer the sun. Why would you want to go to a beach in the rain? Well, it doesn't matter. I'll be in the caves exploring with Charlie, anyway. He's my best and only human friend. To be honest, that's the only thing I look forward to in these trips.

I got up from my seat and made my way over to Charlie who sat with a few other boys; John Town, a tall boy with blonde hair and brown eyes, Luke Gates, a short, skinny brown haired boy with green eyes, and Mike Valley, black hair and hazel eyes, very tall and muscley. All the girls are after Mike because he's just simply gorgeous. Did I say simply gorgeous? Oh, I meant gorgeously sexy!

I sat down next to Charlie and smiled. He smiled back and then turned to talk to his guy friends again. Whenever he is with that lot, he always forgets I exist. I hate it. Thankfully, I didn't have to sit there long, for the bell wrung and a lady in a grey skirt and white frilly top with clunky high heels and a bun on top of her head came in to announce the arrival of the bus. We all made our way outside and got onto it.

When we arrived at the beach, I just stood there and looked around, shading my eyes from the sun with my hand. There in front of me sat the sand with the sea up ahead, the waves overlapping onto the surface. I walked on up to the edge of the sand, where water pushed upon the brim of my flip flops. I pulled them off and let them fall from my hand where they landed to the right of my feet. Then I slowly walked three large steps into the sea.

As I walked further in, I ignored the calls of Charlie and the hisses of my snake, Kazan, who hid away in the back left pocket of my shorts. I decided to bring her along, just in case. You never know, I might need her one day and I would have left her in the orphanage, then what would I do?

Suddenly, someone rested their hands on my shoulders and jumped onto my back, making me fall over into the water with the person. I looked to my left to discover Charlie and his friend Rebecca, a pretty little know-it-all. Rebecca was still standing while Charlie lay next to me, a goofy grin plastered to his face. Sometimes I tease him about Rebecca. I say there going out or he likes her, but he always denies it.

"What in the name of mushrooms was that for?" I demanded to know.

He scrambled up onto his feet, the goofy grin keeping its place, and reached out his hand. I sighed and grabbed his hand, and he heaved me up. Once I was back on my feet, I roughly pushed him down. Grinning to myself, I left for the caves, but just after making sure Kazan was still there in my pocket.

As I made my way over to the caves, I looked behind me and saw Charlie jogging up to me, leaving his little girlfriend with her group. Those girls very much dislike me. Once he caught up with me, he put his arm around my waist, pulling me into him. I sighed inwardly, quite annoyed. He always does that to annoy me. I let him keep his arm there, not really feeling that bothered to remove it.

I looked to my right, where a bunch of beach huts stood, one behind the other, or one besides the other, to see many people going into them to change into their swimming costumes so they could go into the sea for a swim. Why would you want to go in the sea? It was dam right cold when I put my feet in and not to mention it's still raining.

Just behind one of the huts, a man in a long cloak like outfit hid. He had thick locks of brown hair and his skin was a marble white. He must have seen me staring for he looked over to me and our eyes connected for a few minutes, and I could see his eyes were a blood red. Yes, a blood red, even weirder than black. I felt the urge to give him the finger, but I fought it off. Not as much as I liked though, because instead I stuck my tongue out at him.

And he smirked. He probably thought I was childish. Yeah, not the kind of reaction I wanted.

I looked ahead of me, but could still feel his eyes on me. I looked back at him and gave him the _'stop-looking-at-me-or-you-will-regret-it'_ look; I use that look a lot. He continued to smirk. I rolled my eyes and looked ahead once more where I could see a cave coming into view. Grr, I could still feel his eyes on me. What did this guy want; a medal, a kiss, a punch? Oh, oh, oh, or a super duper jumpy thingy ma-bobble?

You know, a super duper jumpy thingy ma-bobble sounds evil, totally evil. I like it already and I don't even know what it is!

Suddenly, a horrendous pain shot through my head as if someone was searching through my brain. I put my hands over my face and gritted my teeth, eyes shut tight. I stopped walking and Charlie did too. I'm guessing he moved to stand in front of me because I heard him move. As soon as Charlie put his hands on my shoulders, the pain left and I un-gritted my teeth, taking my hands away from my face, but I didn't open my eyes.

I just stood there with my eyes closed, breathing deeply, as Charlie put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up. What the hell was he doing? Did he think I wanted a kiss or something? Is that why he thought I kept my eyes closed? **No! **It was not! It was because I had a stupid headache. Durr! If he kissed me, or even thought for one second that I wanted him to kiss me, I would murder him. Literally!

To be out of harms way, I smacked his hand away from my chin and opened my eyes. I glared daggers at him, but instead of running away like a frightened little girl, he just looked towards the cave we were supposed to be heading to. He then looked back at me, smirking slyly, and I knew what he was thinking. He wanted to beat me again. Nope, not this time!

I began to sprint towards the cave, yelling back to Charlie; "Prepare to be beaten by a girl, Charlie!"

I heard him coming up behind me. He was getting closer, and closer, and closer. Soon he was on my heels, but no worries, I was still ahead of him. I was sure to win. But then, it happened; he tackled me to the floor, and it hurt as he is heavier than me, also including the fact that he landed on me.

And due to the fact that he landed on me, I pushed him off, as I am muscle lady, and straddled him. I just sat there so he couldn't move. I was looking down at him, a triumphant look on my face, and he was struggling to get away. But I wouldn't budge because, as I said, I am muscle lady and no one can get past my genius. Soon, he gave up struggling and had a look of annoyance upon him.

I grinned, then leaned down so my mouth was next to his ear, and I whispered, "See, Charlie ol' pal, I will always beat you because no one beats me." I sat back upright. I climbed off him, standing up, and I left him lying there, as if he was a block of ice, never to move again. Well, not until he melts anyway.

I began to make my way over to the cave once again. It seemed that I'd been walking for hours due to all the interruptions. I looked towards the man by the hut once more to find him gone. Hurrah! Gone! Gone forever! Never to come back! I could finally concentrate on the cave without the man staring at me, Charlie pulling me about, and the annoying headache, which was still there by the way.

Finally, I was at the cave. I sighed a sigh of relief and looked around, grinning. I never had seen this cave before. It was different than the others I'd been in. More... magical? I couldn't think of a word to describe it, and even though magic isn't real, I just went with that.

I began to look around the cave. Behind rocks, under rocks, on rocks, under the sand, on top of the sand, at the sides and fronts of the cave, and up above, but I couldn't find anything. There was nothing at all. Inwardly sighing, I closed my eyes and began to rub them with my hands. Once I took my hands away, eyes open, I saw the very same man from the hut right in front of me. My eyes widened and I opened my mouth but nothing came out, so I closed it again, and blinked. A long blink. It looked like I closed my eyes again, but o' course I didn't. Or did I?

When I was just about to open my eyes, a hand made its way around my neck and I felt myself being lifted up into the air, and then pinned to the wall. I choked and spluttered, struggling against the wall. I felt it was a good time to open my eyes, so I did. In front of me, there wasn't the hut man (I just decided to give him that name) who turned out to be a mass murderer, nor Charlie playing some stupid prank to scare me, but a new man with long, very long, black hair that reached half way down his back, and he had silver eyes. It freaked me out… a lot.

As I struggled, choked, _and_ spluttered, the man moved his head towards my neck. I hoped he wasn't doing what I though he was doing. Then I felt his breath on my neck, it was cold, so cold that it felt like ice. He loosened his grip slightly and moved his hand a little from where his mouth was, and then he bit me. Yes, he **BIT** me. His teeth were sinking into my skin and I felt like my blood was being drained away. Maybe he's a vampire, and I was his pray, and he was sucking my blood, and… and… I didn't even want to think about it.

Hah! Who am I kidding? There's no such thing as vampires. Just like there's no such thing as magic, fairies, Santa, elves, talking animals, invisible lands, or werewolves (as much as I would like them to be real, I'm afraid werewolves can't be). I'm just bringing my imagination into this.

Anyway, he let me fall to the ground after... err... after whatever he just did, and I hit the ground with a thump. I cracked the muscles in my neck, which sounded disgusting, but felt good. I reached up to touch the part of my neck where he bit me, keeping my eyes on the fellow, and felt two dents there. I pushed two of my smallest fingers into the cuts and they felt deep. They were deep. I wanted to get up and smack the guy, but I didn't have the strength.

I'm still wondering why he didn't run away and kept standing there, staring at me, looking as if he wasn't breathing.

"What the hell did you just do?" I whispered breathlessly.

He didn't say anything, didn't move, didn't freaking breath. Just stood there watching. So, I stood up, but sank back to the ground right after, my eyes closed as soon as I hit it. And then I felt something smack on the wall I was leaning against, so I re-opened my eyes with a snap and saw the man gone, Charlie taking his place.

"Charlie!" I exclaimed, overjoyed that he saved me.

I jumped up and embraced him in a **BIG** hug. He saved me, and I didn't want to even think about letting go, but he pushed me away as soon as I wrapped my arms around him. He was glaring at him as if I'd torn him up into shreds and left him for the wolves to eat as lunch. Uh, well, actually, I kinda did, you know, but I didn't rip him up into shreds, nor did I leave him for the wolves to eat.

Charlie touched my neck where I was bitten and I winced at the pressure he put on it. What was he trying to do? Kill me even more, perhaps? Charlie frowned and then he took my wrist and pulled me out of the cave as if I was a lost puppy. I tried to pull away from his grip, complaining that I could walk very well on my own, but he didn't let go. I was beginning to hate the guy right now. He was acting like my carer, or worse, my dad!

I began to think about the man. What if he really was a Vampire and now I was one, too? Honestly, I didn't want to think about it, but I was confused to the brim, and seriously, there wasn't any other explanation for the situation.

A little while later, we left the beach and came back to the orphanage. I raced in through the doors and went up to my bedroom, hoping Charlie wasn't following me. Once I got into my room, I pulled out Kazan from my pocket and placed her back into her cage. I smiled down at her, then walked to my door, closing it, and went back over to my bed and sat on it, and I looked around my room.

The walls were plain white with a grey ceiling and the windows were rather misty, so I couldn't see out unless it was sunny. The curtains were grey and crinkled and the window sill was also white. I had posters and pictures up on my walls; a twilight one with Edward sitting and holding hands with Bella, and they were sitting on nothing but a sparkly blue background with the words **TWILIGHT** written out in neon purple. Then there was a St. Trinians one with all the girls standing there, all leaning against each other. And the final one, which sat besides my wardrobe, was a picture of me, Charlie and Kazan out in the orphanages back garden, and we were sitting on the swings in the middle of the night, telling scary stories.

No one knew about Kazan except for Charlie, mainly because we have been best friends since we first met. Kazan's cage sat on my bedside table which was made out of oak, and my bed was just metal with grey and white covers. Besides my bedside table was an oak desk with absolutely nothing on it, but paper, colored pens, and a locket, which I always keep around my neck. I don't know why I didn't wear it today. I've had that necklace since I was a baby.

The last thing my eyes landed on was my wardrobe. It was tall, oak (like everything else that was wood), and had weird patterns on it. There was a rumor about that wardrobe. Once a boy named Tom Riddle (yeah, he has my last name. Odd, huh?) stayed in this very same room and he had no friends or anything. He kept items in a tin box in the wardrobe that he had stolen from others in the orphanage; I guessed that was why no one liked him. Anyway, one night, a man wearing weird purple robes and half-moon spectacles came, and wanted to speak to Tom Riddle alone. Rumor has it that the man set the wardrobe on fire, but the fire never burnt the wardrobe, and then he told Tom Riddle that he was a wizard.

I laughed at the people who told me this. I mean, a wizard? No such thing. And a wardrobe doesn't go on fire and then not burn into ashes. It's stupid.

Just then a pecking noise came from my window. I turned to look, but after remembering I couldn't see anything through it, I opened it up and a bird flew through it. I let out a yelp of surprise as it skimmed the side of head as it flew past me and into my room, and landed on the edge of the desk. I noticed it wasn't normal bird, but an owl. Weird. But what was weirder, was that it carried an envelope in its claws.

I pulled the letter from its grasp. It felt like parchment, which is a type of paper that is rarely used these days, and it was quite heavy and thick in my hands. I looked at the back of the letter. There was some type of seal holding it closed: a strange coat of arms that was the letter 'H' and was surrounded by a lion, a badger, an eagle, and a snake. But who would send me a letter, and what on earth was Hogwarts?

Looking back at the front, I read the name; _Nemesis Drew Riddle._ My name. There was no address, but it had to be a letter to me. Pulling the seal open, I pulled out the letter and unfolded it. As I predicted, it wasn't paper, but parchment. I began to read;

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

_**Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall. **_

_Miss Nemesis Riddle,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_You will find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment._

_Term will begin on September 1st; we await your owl no later than July 31st._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Neville Longbottom,_

_Deputy Headmaster._

I put the letter on the desk and pulled out another piece of parchment. This time it was a list. I looked down the list and read;

_Uniform_

_Three sets of plain works robes (black)  
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_Books_

_Only one additional book is required of all fifth year students:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk  
Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard_

_Other Equipment_

_1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl, cat, or a toad._

Eh, a magic school with wands, cauldrons, spells, and broomsticks? What the hell? One moment I'm thinking; _Magic is not real, just_ _a myth, is all. _Then the next thing I know is I have a letter telling me something about a magic school and what not. Is someone trying to play a prank on me or something?

I paced my room trying to come up with a conclusion. Just then there was a knock on my door. I spun around to face the door and saw a man with brown hair and goofy teeth come in. He was wearing something like the hut man wore, except more flashy and colorful. I was about to be rather cheeky to the guy but Miss Hailsworth came in. She's the woman who owns the orphanage, and looks after the orphans. She gave me the _'show-some-manners-or-you-wont-get-any-food-for-a-week'_ kind of look. Thinking I better do so, I smiled innocently at the man but I was actually thinking different.

_What does goofy want? _I thought. _Hey, Isn't there a TV show with a thing called goofy in it?_

I left my mind wander and didn't notice Miss Hailsworth leave the room, leaving me with this man. I snapped out of my thoughts when he poked me. I looked towards him and he was grinning. I smiled back for the sake of it. What was he grinning at? Even his smile looked goofy. I now officially name him goofy until he tells me his name.

I lay on my bed, sitting up a little, motioning for him to sit on the edge of my bed, and I decided to say something, to break the silence. "Hello, sir, my name's Nemesis Riddle. What's yours?"

"Neville Longbottom," he replied, sitting where I motioned for him to sit.

"You're the guy who sent me the letter," I said, pushing the letter in his face.

He chuckled and took the letter from my hand, looking at it. He was probably examining it… or something. I don't know. How should I? I ain't any genius, thank you very much. Then he put the letter beside him and seemed to be in thought. Maybe he was trying to think of a way to explain.

"I am, and I believe you realize what the contents of this letter explain," he said.

"It means that you and Miss McGonagall are off your heads, sir?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Ah, but this is not fake. It is very real indeed."

"But, sir… magic just doesn't exist!"

"Have you been able to do things, things you could never explain?" he asked; his face was now very serious. He knew my answer, I could tell, so I kept silent and very still. He nodded a nod of understanding and continued. "It is because of your magic. Of course, you didn't know that at the time. Most young witches and wizards in your situation often have their magic get away from them. That's what Hogwarts is for, teaching you control."

"Oh, so that's what Hogwarts is! I thought it was a hog with many warts." He chuckled. I bent over and reached for the supply list and then gave it to him. "Sir, I'm confused. It says fifth year, but wouldn't I be in first year, and where do I go for this stuff?"

"Ah, yes, that is because you are an orphanage and well, we didn't know about you. Usually the school would know, but for some reason, we did not. So you have to start rather late. Oh, and to get everything you need, you must go to Diagon Alley. You get there by going through the Leaky Cauldron, out the back, and then tapping a certain brick on the wall. I will take you there myself."

"The Leaky Cauldron… Isn't that the pub looking place that's somewhere around the corner?" I asked. "I noticed it once before on the bus when we were off to the beach, but my friend, Charlie, couldn't see it. Kazan could though. Charlie thought I was mental."

Mr. Longbottom looked thoughtful. "How could your friend, Kazan, see it?"

"Oh, err… well, she's my… err… snake. I can talk to her; she's really friendly." I pointed towards the cage where Kazan slithered around, trying to get comfortable so she could sleep.

He muttered something under his breath. "There is something else I must tell you," he sighed. "Around an hour ago, you were bitten by a man," he put his hand on my neck where the holes had healed and turned into small red dots. "This was no ordinary man; this man is a vampire."

"A vampire, wow." This is... kind of cool and exciting. Though I don't want to live forever and I don't want pointy teeth. I wouldn't mind the long nails part, since I am a girl. And I certainly don't want to bite people... even if I get to choose to bite animals.

As if he read my mind, he began to go into further explanation. "You don't have to bite, you can eat normal food and drink, since you're only a half vampire as you were bitten by a vampire, and not born a vampire, but sometimes you may have to bite because sometimes you will have a need for blood. You can drink animal blood if you want."

I stared at him, unblinking. "How do you know all this?" I asked.

"I went to school," he replied, rolling his eyes. I almost laughed. What a very unprofessional thing for a professor to do!

Our conversation switched from the vampires to Diagon Alley, and he began to tell me about all the different shops. I found Mr. Longbottom to be a really nice fellow; I could get used to him. He also told me he teaches Herbology, along with being the deputy head of the school. Honestly, the information just wouldn't sink in, and I was scared that it was all just a very good dream. This was going to be a very interesting year for me.


	2. Diagon Alley

_Authors Note:__ Sorry I haven't updated, I lost my voice and had to stay in bed. I worked extra hard on this one to make up for it. Hope you like it._

_Review Replies:_

_1. __Ncy555__: You'll just have to wait and find out; I don't like spoiling things._

_2. __They Who Come In The Night__: I'm not exactly sure what that means, but if it means she's rather self-centered, then okay!_

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**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Two: Diagon Alley.**

Looking at my watch, I saw I had half an hour to wait until Professor Longbottom came to take me to Diagon Alley where I'd buy my school supplies, and then he'd take me to his place where I'd stay until I was to go to Hogwarts. I was all ready to go; dressed, and bags packed and put downstairs by the front door of the orphanage. My whole room was bare except for my desk, bed and wardrobe - Professor Longbottom said I had to pack everything.

I stood up from my bed and turned to look in the mirror. I wore black skinny jeans, a plain neon green short-sleeved tee-shirt, white converses, and dark glittery eye make-up, along with a coat of shiny lip-gloss on my lips, and my reddish brown hair was curled all over the place. I also had on my oval-shaped silver locket that had a snake made of carvings and green gems on it, which I had had since I was baby.

Sighing in frustration and boredom, I left the room and began a hunt for the long lost Charlie Hill.

I haven't told Charlie what I am and I wasn't about to, but maybe in the future I will. When I told Kazan, she said she knew all along. I wasn't mad at her for knowing, but I was pretty annoyed that she hadn't told me. I did tell Charlie however, that I had achieved a special scholarship in a school in France because of my story writing. I have a huge love for writing stories and since I am excellent at it, he believed me.

Strutting into the games room where all the youngsters sat playing games in their tidy grey uniforms, I looked around for Charlie and found him in the corner by the pinball machine, staring at Rebecca, who was huddled on the sofas in front of the television with her posse, probably gossiping with them like the backstabber she is.

Oh, didn't I tell you? Rebecca and I used to be best friends until Janice Retell, the so-called "Queen" of the orphanage, came and made friends with us, but the two of them were always off together gossiping about others behind there backs. The day our friendship ended was when I caught them gossiping bad stuff about me in my own room. One day, the two said something terrible about me, something I don't want to repeat, and that made everyone dislike me. That was also the day Charlie and I made friends. He found me trashing my room up, so he asked me if I wanted to go outside and hang, so we did, and we both found Kazan bathing in one of the flower beds. She was staring at me as if she had been waiting for me to come find her.

I snook up behind the drooling Charlie and pressed my hand to his back, then whispered "Boo!" in his ear, making him jump and yelp for help. Man, it's so easy to scare him! He cracked up laughing when I did, and we were laughing so hard that neither of us noticed someone standing behind us.

"Miss Riddle?" asked an amused and familiar voice.

I spun around to come face to face with the person I had been waiting for for hours; Professor Neville Longbottom. What joy! I could see he was trying to keep a straight face and I knew he just wanted to laugh at the sight of me and Charlie.

"Ready to go, Miss Riddle?" Professor Longbottom asked.

I turned back to Charlie who had a sparkle in his eyes but a sad expression on his face. He always has a sparkle in his eyes after he laughs about something. He pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight. After hugging him back tighter, I pulled away and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. I looked to Rebecca to see her looking rather jealous and slightly angry.

"You'll write, right?" Charlie asked.

I didn't actually know if I _could _write where I was going. "I'm not sure if I can, but if I can I will, I promise."

I quickly pecked him on the cheek again and then followed Professor Longbottom out of the room, then out of the building, and down the road and into the Leaky Cauldron. Professor Longbottom gave a short wave to the bartender, who was apparently called Tom, and deciding to be polite, I smiled at him, but Tom just stared after me as though he knew me from a long, long time ago. After exiting the pub out the back, we entered a small square courtyard, occupied by only a couple of trashcans.

I looked around, but found no exit. "Why've we come out here, sir?" I asked.

"Please, call me Neville, but only when we're not in Hogwarts," he said. "Three up, two across from the trash can," Neville added, pulling out his wand and tapping a few random bricks. "Take note of that for when you come other times, Miss Riddle."

I nodded, wondering what the hell he was talking about, and my mouth fell open and my eyes widened in amazement as I watched as an archway slowly grew in the wall, leading to a cobblestone street lined with buildings.

"All right, Neville, but you have to call me Nemesis and _not_ Miss Riddle." I grinned as I made my first step into Diagon Alley.

I looked around the street as I walked down it, Neville at my side. In the windows of stores there were Potion ingredients, cauldrons, spell books and quills, and even one that sold broomsticks. I stopped to look at the broomsticks, but was soon pulled away by Neville. As we made our way down the street, I was occasionally being pushed or pulled somewhere as the place was crowded. We soon stopped in front of a white three-story building with bronze double doors and steps leading down from there.

"Here we are—Gringotts Wizard Bank," Neville announced.

We made our way up the steps and to the bronze double doors where a strange creature stood. It was short, shorter than me, had a clever-looking face, and pointy ears and nose, with long fingers and short spiky grey hair. It was dressed in a scarlet and gold uniform, and it bowed low to me and Neville, before leading us in through the doors, where we were met by two other strange creatures and another set of double doors, these silver and engraving;

_Enter stranger, but take heed  
of what awaits the sin of greed,  
for those to take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
a treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
of finding more than treasure there._

I raised an eyebrow at the engraving, but my attention was soon caught as the other two creatures bowed, their noses almost touching the floor, which made me snicker. Neville and I followed them in through the silver double doors and into a long office-like hall where more of the creatures were rushing around, most behind desks stamping books or weighing different types of gems and money.

"Neville, what exactly are these… err… things?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know.

"Goblins," Neville answered. "I suggest you never ever mess with one of them, Nemesis."

I took a deep breath just as we began to make our way down the long office-like hall, and we stopped in front of a tall desk where another goblin stood, scribbling on a piece of parchment. He took notice of us when Neville coughed and he peered down at me through his moon-shaped glasses. He looked me up and down, and then turned to Neville.

"Does Miss—" The goblin looked at me once again, then turned back to Neville. "—Nemesis Riddle have her key?"

"But of course," Neville replied as he felt around his pocket. He soon pulled out a small delicate gold key and handed it to the goblin. "It's vault y_ou-know-which_, belonged to _you-know-who_."

My head snapped towards Neville and I frowned in puzzlement. "What vault is that exactly?" I asked just as the goblin nodded in understanding and began to lead us down a few staircases and into a cave-like-place where it was very, very cold.

"Nothing," he said as we both clambered into a cart that sat on a metal track.

"But—" I was about to beg for him to tell me but I was cut short as the cart whooshed off into blackness.

Minutes later, I stepped out of the cart and onto the sidewalk where a large steel vault was built into the wall. The goblin took the key from Neville and placed it in a small keyhole in the vault. A few clicks later, the vault door swung open and we went inside.

Looking around the vault, I gasped, then gaped and spluttered. Mountains of gold, silver and bronze coins, along with a few different types of gems, were piled high to the ceiling. Also in the vault were a few pieces of elegant but dusty furniture, beaten books, and different objects that I had seen in some of the windows in the shops of Diagon Alley.

"And this is my vault?" I whispered breathlessly.

"It is," said Neville, grinning at my surprised reaction.

Deciding not to waste any time, I ran further into the vault. It must have been huge because I ran for a while until I came to a dirt wall with a single steel door placed in it, but the door was bolted and locked so I couldn't get in. I frowned as I touched one of steel bars that bolted the door. Knowing that I obviously couldn't get in the room behind the door, I dropped my hand with a sigh and walked back down the vault.

Soon afterwards, I was standing next to Neville again. "I went on an expedition," I explained.

"Well, now that you've ticked something off your extremely long list of things to do, let's get some money for you," he said.

We quickly got some money for my school supplies and I managed to hide a book or two under my shirt, ones that Neville wouldn't allow me to take out. I was glad he didn't notice when we were leaving Gringotts. We were standing outside of Gringotts when I saw a gloomy alleyway with a sign besides it saying '_Knockturn Alley'_. I headed towards it but was pulled back by Neville. I turned to him and found he looked serious and stern, yet worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked, biting my lip.

"That down there is Knockturn Alley; it's a dark, dodgy place, Nemesis. You don't want to get caught going down there," he explained, and turned away, but then he quickly turned back to me. "In fact, don't go down there at all."

I nodded, not really listening to him, but to some other guy standing near the sign by the alley. After catching his every word, which was something or other about Muggleborns, Purebloods, and Half-Bloods, I turned back to Neville and asked where we were heading off to.

"Well, it's your school list, you choose."

Pulling out my school list out, I grinned and skimmed over it. "Robes first!" I replied, already starting to skip in the direction I thought it was in, but I was turned in another direction by a pair of strong, firm hands.

I soon found myself in a robes shop called _Madam_ _Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_, standing on a stool, having no trouble keeping still, and being pinned for a set of black robes. The witch who was pinning my robes poked me in the skin with the pin a couple of times. When my robes were fitted and done, I hopped down from the stool and went back to the front of the shop where Neville was waiting.

When I reached Neville, a boy looking to be the same age as me and a man who looked quite like the boy came in. The two were both pale, had platinum blonde hair, and cold grey eyes. The man told the boy to stay put and he went off in another direction, most probably on the search for Madam Malkin who was no where in sight. I looked up at Neville to see he was frowning, and just as I was about to nudge him with my left elbow, he walked off in the direction the man went in. Not feeling too bothered or worried, I stayed put and walked around the front of the shop for a bit, up until the boy came up to me.

"Hey?" I said uncertainly.

"Your hair is wacky; I like it!" he commented.

"Err, thanks. Who're you?" I asked. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Scorpius HyperionMalfoy. I placed my hand in his and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. My name's Nemesis Drew Riddle."

"Well, Nemesis Drew Riddle, it's nice to meet you, too," he laughed. "So, I'm a Pureblood, what about you?" I looked at him, confused at what he meant by the term 'Pureblood'. He laughed again. "Muggleborn I take it?"

"Muggleborn?" Now where had I heard that word before? Oh yeah! "Oh, I know! It's a witch or wizard who was born with non-magic parents and a Pureblood is a witch or wizard with both magical parents, and then there's Half-blood which is a witch or wizard with one magical parent. Yeah, I heard those words from some man down near Knockturn Alley when I nearly walked down there."

"Definitely Muggleborn," he muttered.

"Actually, I don't know what I am because, well… I'm an orphan." I shrugged as he gave a short, slow nod. "An orphan is someone whose parents have died or someone who was dumped by their family because they didn't want them," I explained.

"Wow, that's—" but I never found out what it was as he had stopped when he spotted his dad coming back with Neville and Madam Malkin. Neville came to stand by me whilst Scorpius' dad came to stand by him and Madam Malkin went behind the stall.

"What took you so long, Neville?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Just helping Mr. Malfoy find Madam Malkin," he replied.

I looked over at Mr. Malfoy and saw he was staring down at me as if he'd seen me before, just like Tom had. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," I joked.

Scorpius took it upon himself to introduce me. "Father, this is Nemesis DrewRiddle."

Mr. Malfoy looked as though he had gone whiter than he usually was. "A classmate of yours, Scorpius?" Mr. Malfoy asked crookedly.

"Err, actually, no. I've never seen her around before."

The two looked to me curiously and so I explained to them my situation. "I didn't know about magic until yesterday and apparently, I've missed four years of it, so I'm going to Hogwarts this year. I'm an orphan, you see." Mr. Malfoy looked confused. "Meaning I have no family."

Neville put his hands on my shoulders. "We better be off now. Lot's more to buy!"

"See you at school, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," I said with a wave.

Scorpius laughed and waved back. "Yeah, see you at school, Nemesis Drew Riddle."

Neville and I left the shop and we both walked away without talking, and when we reached the end of the alley, we found ourselves in front of a narrow, shabby shop with peeling golden letters reading _'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' _across the top.

"How do you know Mr. Malfoy?" I asked, breaking the silence between us.

"Draco—Uh, I mean Mr. Malfoy was in school with me and made my childhood more unpleasant than it already was, that is until we became friends near the ending of the Second War," he explained.

"So Mr. Malfoy's name's Draco—but wait." I paused for a second. "What war was it; World War Two? I didn't know you were that old!"

He chuckled. "No; it was a wizarding war. You don't need to worry about it. Its years gone and there won't be a third war because the dark wizard who started both war one and two is long gone."

I shrugged and then we both went inside Ollivanders. I felt as if I had entered some sort of library as the place was dusty, quite dark, and had the smell of a library. A twinkle of a bell sounded above my head as I opened, then closed, the door. The room was narrow and the walls held slim boxes that I guessed held the wands. Neville whispered in my ear to go up to the desk and ring the bell, and then he went and sat on a chair in the corner.

And so doing what Neville said to, I walked up to the desk and rang the small gold bell on the desk, which made a springy-twinkling noise, and then an elderly man slided into view on a tall ladder that was attached to one of the walls. He climbed down from the ladder and came up to the desk.

"Good afternoon. First year at Hogwarts, I take it? Although… you do look older than a first year should do," he said.

"Actually Mr. Ollivander," Neville said from the corner. "Miss Riddle—" I noticed how Ollivanders silvery eyebrows rose at my name. "—has missed four years of magical education due to… her own reasons and is starting Hogwarts in September as a Fifth Year."

"Ah, well then, we should begin. Which is your wand arm, Miss Riddle?" Ollivander asked.

I stuck out my right arm as if an automatic force pushed it out and said, "Right."

A measuring tape suddenly flew up from the desk and started taking measurements of strange areas on my body, like from my knee to my armpit and around my head. I looked up to Ollivander to see he was back on the ladder, looking at wand boxes. He pulled out a wand box just as the measuring tape fell to the ground, making me flinch when it made a loud thumping noise.

Ollivander came over to me as he pulled the wand from the box, and then he gave it to me. Without thinking, I flicked the wand and a vase smashed, scattering petals, glass, and water across the floor. I tried another wand, but as I soon as I touched it, a load of wand boxes flew out from the shelves and we all had to duck down to the floor. The next wand _almost_ worked; I held it firmly in my hand and I felt a slight gentle breeze swarmed around me, but then out of nowhere, all the windows in the shop smashed into pieces, and Ollivander had to quickly repair them in fear of someone injuring themselves.

Many, many wands later, the shop was half-destroyed, Neville looked like he was about to die from holding his laughter, and Ollivander was at his wits ends. Ollivander had a thinking look upon him, and he soon walked over to a door, hidden besides a bookshelf, beckoning Neville and I to come.

The door was ancient looking with words engraved into it that looked like Greek or Latin. Ollivander unlocked it with a long rusty key and once it gave a quiet click, it swung open. We walked through the door, closing it behind us, and into a black room which soon lit up full of candles. Becoming blinded by the light, I sheltered my eyes with my hand, giving protection from it but still being able to look around. The shelves in the room were made of black wood and there were only about three of them, all short with skulls or old antiques placed on them.

I turned to Ollivander and asked, "Mr. Ollivander, what are we doing in here?"

He didn't reply, but instead went over to a small glass case on some sort of display stand which was in the far left corner, one that I hadn't noticed had been there. Ollivander beckoned me over, and when I was standing next to him, he lifted the glass case and pulled something out. He handed it to me and I looked at it closely, running my fingers over it.

It was a silver wand with a handle of blue, red, yellow, and green, and had a small crystal ball at the end. Also going down the wand were five letters carved into it; GRHHS. As soon as I held it by the handle, a whoosh of wind swept through the room and the wand, including me, began to glow the four colours of the handle. I felt a slight tingle rush through my body which made me shiver.

"This is… very odd," said Ollivander.

"Sorry, sir, but what's odd?" I asked.

Ollivander took the wand from me and began to examine the handle. I peered closer to see my name carved in silver there in the multi-coloured wood. Ollivander handed me the wand back as he replied, "Nothing. Nothing at all, m'dear."

I frowned because he wouldn't tell me, but quickly covered it up as we left the room and entered the front of the shop. Neville told me what money to give Ollivander, since I didn't know what the money types were, and we left the shop with Neville explaining about the money, as I had asked him to. We passed the Eeyelops Owl Emporium and I briefly stood there for a moment looking at one owl that was changing colour and shape for a crowd, but before I could look at the owl properly, I was being pulled off towards a bookstore called Flourish and Blotts.

In Flourish and Blotts, I bought the two books on my school list and wasted no time in buying several others, two of them about Charms, another two on Potions, and the rest about Defense Against the Dark Arts; I found those three subjects interested me the most. Oh, and I also bought one that's title read, '2000 Most Hilarious Magical Pranks', and I found that that one was a book I couldn't wait to read.

Once I payed for all seven books and we were about to exit the shop, a book with a cover that gleamed in the sunlight caught my eye. I walked over and picked it up. It was rather thick; 200 pages it had, and the title read out, 'The Disasters and Accomplishments of Harry James Potter.'

I felt a rustle behind me and turned around to see Neville smiling down at the small collection of biographies. "That Harry Potter book will tell you about the Second War. If you're interested, then I suggest you buy it."

"Okay, I'm getting it," I agreed, and quickly went over to the counter, dumping the book on there.

Once that book was also payed for and put in a bag that contained the several other books, we left that shop and went searching around the others. The other things I got were a plain pewter sized cauldron, a brass scales, and a set of crystal phials. I didn't need anything else but I was determined to get that colour changing owl and a broomstick.

I pulled Neville back down the street towards Eeyelops Owl Emporium and went into the shop where I asked the man at the counter about the owl. He said her breed were extremely rare and he wanted to keep her as entertainment, but he agreed to let me have her for two galleons extra, so I payed five galleons, seven sickles, and two knuts instead of only three galleons. I wasted no time in calling her Venus after the Roman Goddess of love and beauty.

After that, we went and got a Firebolt broomstick, which is said to be the fastest broom ever yet made, from the broomstick shop as well as a pair of black leather gloves so I can keep my grip on the broom whilst riding and a Broomstick Servicing Kit to keep my broom in perfect shape.

We were heading back towards the archway when I suddenly halted and almost shrieked; "Where's Kazan?" I couldn't remember putting her into the front pocket of my skinny jeans and I hadn't felt her moving around at all whilst we were moving from shop to shop around Diagon Alley.

But I was lucky for Neville reached into a bag and pulled out Kazan who had been napping quietly in my robes. She hissed at Neville before he placed her back into the bag and we all began heading back to the archway again where we apparated (a magical type of transportation where you disappear and then appear at the destination you wish to go to) to Neville's house where I met his wife, Hannah.

Hannah showed me to my room, which was full of red, white, and white-painted oak wood, and as soon as she left, I went to sleep in a striped-up bed, waiting for the morning to come. Well, to be honest, I didn't really sleep because I was too excited about Hogwarts. Eek, I couldn't wait!

Only five days to go.

* * *

_Authors Note:__ I had a hard time picking a name for the owl, there were so many names that I liked, but I finally rested on one. It's like, Venus is named after the goddess of beauty and love, and yet her owner is named after the goddess of something completely opposite. You like?_


	3. Hogwarts

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Three: Hogwarts.**

My alarm clock woke me up at 7:35 by playing the old but legendary Paramore song 'Misery Business'. I reached my hand out from under the covers and pressed the stop button on the clock. I pushed the covers back and sat up right, stretching my arms above my head. I then swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and yawned. I went over to the room's on-suite and had a shower and brushed my teeth.

After drying my hair, I went over to the closet; it was a walk-in with rows and stacks of clothes and shoes. I picked out one of my newest and most favourite outfits that Hannah had gone out and bought for me (the woman had style, I had to admit); lacy sunny yellow pumps, grey skinny jeans, and a black waistcoat with a sunny yellow shirt underneath. I quickly pulled on my clothes and exited the closet, closing the doors behind me.

I sat down on the cushioned stool that belonged to my vanity and put on my makeup, which was made up of foundation, black eyeliner, glittery black eye shadow, black mascara, and the final touch, pale pink lipstick (I never wore lip-gloss). I then pulled my hair up into high ponytail and let my side fringe fall over my left eye. By the time I was all ready, it was 8:13. I smiled at my image before standing up and exiting the room.

On my way to the kitchen, I walked past the front door; my Hogwarts trunk sat by the side of it. I was finally going to Hogwarts and I really couldn't wait. With a small smile on my face, I entered the kitchen and found Hannah standing there, making us a full breakfast and me a cup of tea. Now I have to say, she was a great cook. I sat down on one of the stools that stood around the small island in the middle of the kitchen and waited silently.

Hannah put a plate on the table, along with my cup of tea, and my eyes lit up in hunger. I was absolutely starving (huge exaggeration) and dug into my breakfast, eating the bacon first. I finished my breakfast with the fried egg and stood up, holding my plate.

"No, no, you leave that to me," Hannah said, taking the plate from my hand as Neville came in. I grinned goofily at him and he shook his head, amused.

"I'm going to Hogwarts today!" I sang happily, bouncing around the kitchen. But then I stopped and my grin dropped when I realized that I had to go on the train with a lot of other people. I wanted to apparate to Hogsmeade and then walk my way up to Hogwarts with Neville, but he said it wasn't allowed.

Neville put a hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. "What's wrong, Nemesis?" he asked worriedly.

"The train," I muttered.

"Why don't you let her apparate with you, honey?" asked Hannah.

"You know I'm not aloud to do that; she must go on the train like everyone else," Neville replied. I grunted and began to sip my tea.

A few hours later, we were leaving the house for Kings Cross. Well, Hannah and I were – Neville had already apparated to Hogsmeade. We arrived at platforms nine and ten at 10 am, and I saw there was no 9¾. I glanced around the second time, but saw there was still no platform 9¾. Hannah turned to me as we stood in between the nine and ten signs.

"You must run at the wall in between platforms nine and ten," she told me.

My eyes widened, thinking she had gone bonkers. "No, thank you. I don't want to break my neck," I said.

She laughed in amusement. "Go on, you'll have a surprise!"

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and made a runner towards the wall. I felt nothing but a tingling feeling run through my body. My eyes fluttered open and I saw a big, red train sitting on these metal tracks with a sign hanging above it reading, "_Hogwarts Express, 9¾". _

Suddenly, Hannah appeared besides me, making me jump in surprise.

"I told you so," she laughed.

Hannah led me to the luggage compartment where a man helped me store my trunk away (I kept my shoulder bag slung around my shoulder). I said goodbye to Hannah as the whistle of the train went off as a warning and I finally climbed aboard. Whilst looking down the length of the train, I saw, amongst the crowd of people, a flash of platinum blonde hair vanish into a compartment, and I guessed that it was Scorpius.

As I began to make my way down the train, a few people stopped to stare at me, but I took no notice and kept on walking. I soon came to the correct compartment and peered in. I was right; there sat Scorpius with a dark haired, tanned boy. I slid the door open and entered silently.

"Oh, hello, Nemesis," greeted Scorpius. The other boy nodded towards me as I sat down. "You look like you've been on holiday."

"That's because I didn't stay at the orphanage," I said. The unknown boy's head snapped upwards so as to look me with a sparkle of curiosity in his eyes. "I stayed with the Longbottom's in the spare room; they said I can stay there every summer instead of going back to that awful orphanage, and I agreed."

"That's awesome!" Scorpius commented. "Must have been good to get out of the uh, what did you call it?"

"The orphanage, and yes, it was." I looked towards the boy. "Hi, my names Nemesis Drew Riddle. What's yours?" I shared a look with Scorpius, who grinned in remembrance of the first time we met. "Oh, I'm an Orphan, by the way, so if you're going to ask me what heritage I'm of, I really don't know."

The unknown boy looked at Scorpius oddly before looking back at me. "Davlon Avelot, Half-blood," he said. I laughed at his extremely noticeable American accent, but I quickly covered up by a cough, which unfortunately was quite obviously fake.

The train began to move as I pulled out a pack of playing cards. "Want to play?" I asked, waving the card pack in the air.

"Father taught me how to play muggle cards… hm, yeah, I'll play," said Scorpius. He then looked to Davlon. "Don't worry; we'll explain to you how to play."

And so that's what we did; we taught Davlon how to play cards, but to be honest, I kind of wished I hadn't. Davlon was beating Scorpius and me by miles and had already won half of the games we had played. He was really good. As we played, we talked about each other and ourselves.

Davlon was from a family of purebloods who all had the same view of blood traitors and liked dark magic, but of course he didn't believe it. He also told me he was the first ever Half-blood in his family, lived with his aunt and uncle as his parents died from betraying the evil side, and was a Ravenclaw. Scorpius was a Pureblooded Slytherin, and his father and mother didn't believe in blood traitors like they used to.

With one final defeat, I dropped down my stack of cards and looked at my wrist watch. It was three pm already. We had been playing cards for five hours. Five hours of defeat! I looked out the window and saw it was getting darker. How long did this train ride take? A woman with a trolley suddenly appeared, sliding open the compartment door with one hand.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked.

"Ooh! Yes, please!" I said, jumping up.

I walked over to the door and looked at the trolley. Most of these sweets I had seen in Neville's house. There were Liquorices Wands, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Pumpkin Pasties, and Sugar Quills, and then there were others that I hadn't seen before. I rummaged around in my pocket for my money as I picked up a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavoured Beans and a Sugar Quill.

"I'll pay for it," Davlon offered as he walked over to me.

"No, I got it, but thanks anyway," I said.

"Really, it's no worry," he insisted. "Besides, you taught me how to play cards, now I'm returning the favour."

He payed for my sweets and then we both sat back down. Scorpius was smirking like no tomorrow, but he also had a glint of jealousy hiding in the corner of his eyes, which I noticed very easily. He began teasing Davlon about paying for me and I just sat there watching, eating my Sugar Quill.

"Fruit cake!" Scorpius teased.

Davlon threw his pack of cards at Scorpius and a card fight broke out. Cards were flying in every direction of the compartment. I watched as they flew around, but once one hit me, I jumped up and joined in the fight. It was really fun, but when it was actually dark outside, we stopped.

"How long do we have left?" I asked.

"An hour and a half," replied Davlon. "We should change into our robes. Ladies first."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to change; I'm staying like this."

"But you have to change into your robes," Scorpius said.

"Can't be asked," I shrugged, and then I pulled the Harry Potter book out of my bag and began to read whilst the boys began to change.

_"To Harry Potter- The Boy Who Lived." —Wizarding world toasting Harry Potter after Lord Voldemort's first downfall._

_Harry James Potter (born July 31, 1980) is a half-bloodwizard, is the only child and son of James Potter and Lily Potter née Evans, and is one of the most famous wizards in modern times. He is also one of the most famous students to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is the only known survivor of the Killing Curse, with which Lord Voldemort attempted to murder him when he was an infant. This event led to Voldemort's first defeat as the he curse rebounded upon him and his body was destroyed and the end of the First Wizarding War, as well as to the orphaned Harry being taken in by his Muggle maternal relatives, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who constantly bullied him, along with their son, Dudley. _

_Now Lord Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Riddle, was the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. An exceedingly handsome, polite and popular orphan, Tom Riddle was once thought to be the most talented pupil to ever walk through the doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To the school at large he presented the respectable face of a student like any other. In reality, however, Riddle was cruel, sadistic, manipulative, and power hungry. Having embraced the seductive Dark Arts he encountered in his travels, Voldemort raised an enormous army comprised of followers he recruited both at school and afterward, as well as many dark creatures. This army, known as the Death Eaters began a campaign of terror and violence never before seen in Britain. After hearing half of a prophecy referring to a single being with the power to destroy him, Voldemort then set off to kill Harry Potter, to whom he believed the prophecy referred. _

_In his first year at Hogwarts, Harry met his lifelong best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger while riding the Hogwarts Express. Initially, the Sorting Hat considered putting Harry into Slytherin, but changed its mind at Harry's insistence. All three were sorted into Gryffindor House on their first evening at school. Harry discovered at his first broom-flying lesson that he was a natural—" _

There was an attention catching cough and I looked up from my book. When I read, I got lost, and sometimes you couldn't snap me out of my reading for hours. I pushed my book back into my bag and looked at the boy's badges that were sewn on their robes.

"Tell me about those houses," I said abruptly.

"There's four of them; Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor," Davlon began. "Gryffindor was founded by Godric Gryffindor and its student's traits are chivalry and courage—" Scorpius scoffed there. "—and their colours are red and gold and their emblematic animal is the lion. Ravenclaw was founded by Rowena Ravenclaw and its student's traits are intelligence, beauty and wit. Their colours are blue and bronze, and their emblematic animal is the raven."

"Yeah, and Hufflepuff was founded by Helga Hufflepuff and its student's traits are fair play, patience, and friendship, and their colours are yellow and black and their emblematic animal is the badger. Slytherin was founded by Salazar Slytherin and its student's traits are ambition and cunning, and their colours are green and silver and their emblematic animal is the serpent," Scorpius finished.

I thought through the houses, a finger on my lips. "I think I'd either be in Ravenclaw or Slytherin, slight chance for Gryffindor."

"I think you'd be a Slytherin," said Scorpius. Davlon rolled his eyes.

A violent hiss suddenly came from my pocket, making the two boys jump. I laughed as I pulled Kazan out of my pocket. I forgot she was there.

"Sorry, Kazan, I forgot about you," I apologized, speaking in snake language.

"You can speak Parseltongue?" asked Davlon, eyes wide with shock.

"What? - Oh, snake language? Yeah, but so what? I bet loads of people can do it."

Scorpius shook his head in disagreement. "No, they can't. It's not that common and few people can actually speak it," he said.

And so leaving the snake language subject behind, the three of us chatted on until the train stopped at Hogsmeade station. Neville had told me a little about the village and Hannah had a few pictures. I slung my shoulder bag around my shoulder and then Scorpius, Davlon, and I exited the train. It was quite a challenge exiting the train as the isle was jam-packed with others. Once I was off, Scorpius and Davlon departed without me as I had to wait for a professor to come while they went to the carriages with the others. The first years went in a different direction towards a giant man who was calling them.

"Miss Riddle?" asked a familiar voice.

I spun around to find Neville standing there, arms folded across his chest. "You!" I gasped, pointing at him.

"Surprise, surprise," he laughed. "Come on then, let's go."

Neville took my arm and we apparated to the main apparating point of Hogwarts, and then we went through a big, medieval looking gate. I followed Neville to a carriage with no horse attached and he helped me up onto it. I expected someone to come and attach a horse to the carriage but instead, the carriage began to move on its own. I looked to Neville to see he was looking down at me, an amused expression plastered to his face.

"What's making the carriage move?" I asked curiously.

"A horse," he replied shortly.

"Don't joke. I see no horse."

He laughed. "No, no, it's a horse of the dead and is called a Thestral, visible only to those who have witnessed death."

"Oh, that explains it," I said with a short nod.

He eyed me and then asked, "Where's your robes, Miss Riddle?"

"Well, _sir_, by the time I remembered to change into my robes, we were already at the station, so I didn't have time," I lied, looking apologetic.

He nodded in understanding and just left it at that. Soon the carriage had stopped in font of these olden, double doors and they swung open as we climbed out of the carriage. Once entering the castle, we walked up a flight of stairs and entered an empty room with three leather black couches placed in a circle. Neville opened another door and I heard clouds of clapping and cheering erupt from inside the room it led to. Neville entered the room, closing the door behind himself, and left me waiting for my cue.

I listened carefully for my name and once it was called, the door swung open. I exited the room through that door and entered a room with four long tables accompanied by different aged students. There was also another table that was accompanied by what I guessed were teachers.

Looking around the large hall for Scorpius and Davlon, I spotted Davlon at one table and Scorpius at another. I also noticed most of the Slytherins were staring at me. An elderly lady wearing dark green robes and a tall, pointy black hat on her head, also holding an old, patched, and pointy hat, motioned me over. I walked over to her and she nodded at a small, circular stool, so I sat down on it and felt the old hat being placed on my head.

_Ah, an orphan..._I jumped as an old, croaky voice echoed through my head. _Why, I haven't met an orphan like you since he was in school._

I didn't know how to reply but it was like the voice heard me when I was wondering who _he _was.

_No one, no one at all, my dear. _I frowned because the voice of the hat wouldn't tell me. _Hm, you are well suited for Slytherin; you are cunning and have ambition. You are also suited for Ravenclaw, having beauty and intelligence. Hufflepuff, too! You can hold friendships for a long period of time and you are also hard working. But Gryffindor sounds more you as you are daring and brave. You are very talented, too, and would be great in all four houses, but what to chose? _

_Erm, I don't really know which house I prefer, but I kind of like the sound of Ravenclaw and Slytherin… although, the other two don't really sound so bad. _

_Well, I have made my choice. You will be put into— _"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed.

One of the tables began to erupt into cheers and claps. I guessed it was the Gryffindor table so I skipped over there and bounced onto the bench next to a boy with circular glasses, hazel eyes, and gingery brown hair. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

I was a Gryffindor!


	4. Meetings

_Author Note:__ I need to tell you who's in what year and what house (I don't know what J.K. Rowling put them in so I made them up);_

_**7th year:**__ Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin (Gryffindor). __**6th year:**__ Lucy Weasley and Molly Weasley II (Gryffindor). __**5th year:**__ Nemesis Riddle, Peaches Menzel, Fred Weasley II, Roxanne Weasley, Frank Longbottom, and James Potter (Gryffindor). Scorpius Malfoy and Zacharias Snape (Slytherin). Davlon Avelot (Ravenclaw). __**3rd year:**__ Albus Potter and Rose Weasley (Gryffindor). Louis Weasley (Ravenclaw). Dominique Weasley (Hufflepuff) __**2nd year:**__ Hugo Weasley and Lily Potter. (Gryffindor). _

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Four: Meetings.**

"Welcome to Gryffindor!"

I was sat next to a boy with circular glasses, hazel eyes, and gingery brown hair, and I had just been sorted into Gryffindor and was actually surprisingly happy about the Hat's decision. Scorpius didn't look so happy about it, but Davlon didn't _seem_ to mind... at least I hoped he didn't. A few people had gotten up to shake hands with me and introduce themselves, along with introducing a few of their friends. I had yet to talk to the boy next to me due to the racket of the others. When the table had finally settled down, I had my chance to talk to him.

"Hey! Nemesis, right?" the boy said. "I'm James Potter."

"Nice to meet you, James," I replied, outstretching my hand.

He took my hand and shook it gently, and then he began to pile food, which had just magically appeared, onto his plate. I did the same thing, taking any random thing I could get to. I was very hungry but I wasn't really hungry for food.

"No uniform?" James asked suddenly.

"Oh uh, no. I_ forgot_ to change into it," I lied. "The train ride was rather hectic. What, with all them people peering into the compartment to see who I was and all." That wasn't exactly a lie. "So you know, I didn't get much of a chance."

"Lucky! You didn't wear uniform for your sorting but we did," said a new voice.

I looked up and around for the new voice and caught sight of a girl sitting opposite me, smiling curiously. She had long, blonde hair and dazzling ocean-blue eyes with two muggle stud piercings dotted under her mouth. There was something off about her. I noticed how a few boys stared at her, practically drooling their mouths off. Her accent was very French but at least I could understand her.

"Fancy that," I muttered.

"I'm Peaches, by the way. Peaches Sandira Menzel."

She extended her hand and hesitantly, I shook it. I pulled my hand back quickly as if she were about to bite it off. I did this just about the same time as a head popped through the table in-between me and Peaches. The head was of an old man with a beard. Oh, and he was also transparent. The head turned to me with calculating eyes.

"Ah, the new Gryffindor," said the Head. "Nemesis Riddle, isn't it?"

"Err, yes. Who're you?" I asked.

"Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. I'm the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

I repeated the name in my head—or at least tried to—but gave up rather quickly. Even though he just told me his name, the only bit I could really remember was 'Sir Nicolas'. But honestly, how could you remember a name _that _long? Well you could if you had a very good memory.

"Long name," I said. "Mind if I call you Nick?"

The ghost gave a short nod and then floated silently away to end of the table where a group of First Years sat. I continued to eat my food whilst listening to the topic James was talking about to a red-headed boy. Something called Quidditch.

"Oh, Fred, have you met Nemesis yet?" James asked the red-headed boy who shook his head. "Fred Weasley meet Nemesis Riddle, vice versa."

"I'm surprised you even _know _what vice versa means," laughed Fred. "It's nice to meet you, Nemesis.

I chuckled before popping a tomato in my mouth. "Same here, Fred. So, what's Quidditch all about then?" I asked.

The boys looked gob-smacked. I smiled expectantly at them as they continued to look at me as if I was mad.

"You don't know Quidditch!" James said.

"Are you an alien or what!" Fred added.

"No dur! She's an orphan. Didn't you listen?"

"Oh… No wonder she doesn't know about Quidditch!"

My expecting smile turned blank as the boys rushed into an explanation of Quidditch.

They said it is a sport with seven players on each team; three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and a Seeker. The Chasers throw a ball called the Quaffle to each other and throw it into one of the three hoops to score ten points. The Keeper flies around the hoops to try to stop the opposite teams Chasers from scoring. These balls called Bludgers zoom around the field to try to knock anyone off of their broomsticks. The Beaters hit the Bludgers to prevent their team from being hit. The Seeker has to weave in and out of the other players to catch a small, golden ball with wings which is called the Golden Snitch to get an extra hundred and fifty points for their team which also ends the game.

"You wouldn't mind teaching me, would you?" I asked.

"Sure! We'll teach you after classes tomorrow," Fred said.

I looked at Peaches and asked; "You want to come?"

She smiled and nodded. I smiled back before looking up at the head table as the food disappeared. A woman sitting in a tall, golden chair in the middle of the table stood up. I guessed this was Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress. The hall fell silent.

"I now have a few start-of-term notices to give you," McGonagall began. "I am bound to remind you, or inform you, that the forest in the grounds is strictly out of bounds, and a list of all illegal items can be found pinned to Mr Filch's office door." Here she indicated towards a sour-looking man standing next to a red-eyed cat. "Now that's done, I think it's time you all went to your common rooms and off to bed."

We all scrambled to our feet and James took my hand, pulling me with him. How sweet, he didn't want me to get lost. We walked between people, making our way out of the hall and around a corner. I stopped suddenly when I came to the staircase. It had many, many golden stairways, leading up high with portraits sitting on the stone walls.

"The Grand Staircase," said James. "Our common room is right at the top."

My head snapped to look at him. "We have to climb all these stairs?" I was too tired to bother climbing them.

"We do," he said with a short nod.

"Could you carry me?" I asked.

He laughed and then pulled me up the hundreds of stairs with him. We went up many, many of them until we came to a portrait of a lady in a long, pink dress. There were many other people there too. One of the Gryffindors at the front called back that the password was '_Eclipse_' and then everyone scrambled through the hole and into the common room. I spared it a glance; it was large and nicely decorated with red and gold.

"You should go to bed, Nemesis," said Fred who was now standing next to me with Peaches. "Classes start tomorrow and since you're new and all, you wont want to be late for class."

"Come with me," Peaches said, and she led me up a twirling staircase until we stopped at a door, which had a sign attached to it that read _'Fourth Years'._

We walked in and I looked around. The room was circular, with five beds against the walls and a wardrobe that stood tall next to a door, which I guessed led to a joint bathroom. There was also a heater in the middle of the room with a rail around it for drying or heating clothes and a large dresser with a huge mirror. The surface of the dresser was split into five sections. I grabbed the only bed left which was next to the window and Peaches helped me hang my clothes up in the wardrobe, which had colour coded hangers so we knew whose clothes were whose. I also put my hairbrush, hairpins, face wash, and other things in the end right section of the dresser, which was the only one left.

Peaches and I were sitting on my bed when two other girls came in. One had blonde hair and green eyes, whilst the other had brown hair and hazel eyes. They spared us a glance before the blonde one grabbed something from a bed, and then the two flounced off back down to the Common room. I looked at Peaches questioningly.

"Don't mind them," she said with a roll of her eyes. "The blonde one's Katrina Besant and the other is Destiny Green. There both Gryffindors biggest bitches." She snickered. "More like the worlds."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay then," I muttered. "Who takes up the last bed?"

Peaches looked over her shoulder. "Oh, that bed belongs to Fred's twin sister, Roxanne. She's really weird. Her dad is missing a ear and her mum is a nature freak. Roxanne always talks about animals that don't exist… like Nargles, whatever they are. I wouldn't believe what she says if I were you. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's a great person, really funny and friendly, but you know, she's just..."

"Weird?"

Peaches nodded as I yawned. Just around then, a girl with long, platinum blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes came in. "Bed time for you, I think," she said, grinning. "I'm Roxanne Weasley, by the way."

"Nemesis Riddle," I yawned, waving a hand in the air.

Peaches turned to Roxanne. "Hey, Roxi! You know, I think you're right; it's time for bed."

I got into my pajamas and climbed onto my bed, drawing the curtains around me. I sat at the end of my bed and reached down, flicking my trunk open. I rummaged around in it until I found _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_. I pulled it out and closed my trunk. I then picked up my wand from my bedside table and climbed under my bed covers. I flicked open the book and squinted in the darkness, looking at the spells.

I soon found a very, very useful spell. "_Lumos!_" I muttered.

A light glowed from the end of my wand and brightened up the small space my curtains enclosed. I continued to the read the book, now much easier to read with the light. I found many useful spells and I found two of my favourites were _Rictusempra _and _Riddikulus_. I soon muttered _"Nox!" _and the light on my wand went out. I then snuggled down in my bed and drifted off to sleep.

_I stood in the middle of a clearing that was surrounded by trees and animals coming forth to look at me. I stared, dazed, and then put my arms out to my side and twirled as butterflies fluttered around me. I stopped when a baby fox approached me. The fox began to blur as the other animals and insects came together and joined the fox, also becoming blurry. This formed into one big blur which soon cleared away._

_There stood before me the Vampire that had bit me. It grew darker as he approached me, causing me to back up into a tree. He placed one hand on my waist and the other brushed my hair out of my face. He then moved to my neck and bit in the same spot he had once before. I gasped and then began to try and push him away. When he did pull away, it was no longer the Vampire Man._

_Charlie stood before me, yelling at me, saying I never should have gone to Hogwarts to become a witch, saying I should have prevented becoming a vampire, telling me how much of a freak I am, how I could have stopped it all from happening. I looked at my feet, placing my hands over my ears, and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of his hysterical voice._

_I looked up as I saw a flash of light spring from some wand with a bone handle, one that was held by a pale white hand. There stood the man from the beach hut, an evil glimmer in his eyes, laughing maniacally. What was more important though was that light was heading towards me. And then I screamed._

I bolted up right, plastered with sweat and panting heavily. I dragged my legs from under the covers and over the side of the bed, pulling the curtains out of my way as my feet rested on the cold wood floor. I stood slowly, my legs feeling a little weak, and walked into the on-suite, robes bundled in my arms, and went over to the sinks, looking at my image in the wide mirror on the wall. I looked a right mess and my hair was all over the place.

I went over to the shower and turned the dial to cold. After pulling out of my clothes, I stepped in, letting the water drench me. The water felt relaxing on my skin. I shampooed and conditioned my hair before soaping my body. I let the water fall for a few moments before stepping out of the shower. I draped a towel around my body and then went back over to the sinks to brush my teeth.

Having no reason to stand around in the bathroom any longer, I changed quickly, pulling on the black tights, grey skirt, white shirt, and grey jumper. I then put on my maroon tie and pulled on the heavy black robes which now had a crest with a griffin stitched to it. I left the bathroom and sat at the large vanity. I applied the usual dark make up to my face after drying my hair with a simple charm and pulling my brush through it.

A creak came from behind me. I almost fell off the stool when shuffling was heard from Destiny Green's bed. I got up from the stool quietly and sneaked off down the spiral stairs. I almost laughed out loud when I saw Fred tangled with James on the sofa, sheets of paper scattered across the floor and coffee table. I guessed they'd probably forgotten to do their homework or something. Shaking my head, I left the common room quietly.

Once the Fat Lady Portrait had closed behind me, I began to walk down the millions of stairs, hoping I would remember the way to the Great Hall. I walked down a staircase in front of me, turned left down another, kept walking down two others, turned right down another, and came to a dead end. I did this a few more times until I came to a door that I found unusual, although there was nothing really odd about it; it was wooden like any other door in Hogwarts.

I pushed the door open and entered the room, and I glanced around, taking in my surroundings, and found that it was a girl's bathroom. I was about to walk out when a wailing sound was picked up from the other side of the room. I walked around the sink area and found a transparent girl, hovering over a—thank god—solid girl in ragged robes, a small scar on her cheek, lying asleep on the floor.


	5. She Wolf

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Five: She-Wolf.**

It was a bit of a shock for me to find some wailing ghost girl hovering over a sleeping solid girl who was dressed in rags in an old, abandoned bathroom. I stuck my foot out to move forward so I could find out what had happened, but the ghost flew in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. I placed my foot back on the ground and tilted my head sideways, making myself look like a puppy that had lost its owner.

"Um, hi… What happened?" I asked. I couldn't help but be concerned about this girl. She looked like she had been beaten up pretty badly and had just been dumped in here to cry over her injuries, and that had caused her to fall asleep in the process.

The ghost girl began to wail at my question. "None of your business!" she screeched suddenly, making me jump in surprise.

I began to walk forwards and the girl yelled for me to stop but I didn't do as she ordered. I kept on walking and I walked right through her. I felt like an ice cold bucket of water had been thrown all over me. I ignored this and continued to walk towards the ragged girl on the floor. Once reaching her, I knelt down besides her and noticed for the first time that she had platinum blonde hair with copper red streaks running through it, which was tied up in a messy, high pony-tail. I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to shake her awake.

As I shook her, she mumbled things like "five more minutes, mum" and "I'll take out the garbage later, dad." It was actually quite funny, seeing her mumbling these things in her sleep. Suddenly, her eyes flickered open and I fell backwards, off my knees and onto my arse. She stared at me with bright blue eyes for a few minutes, until she bolted upright, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" I asked again. I was unsure about asking this time though.

The girl snapped her head around to look at me, worry in her eyes. She brought her legs up and tucked her knees under he chin. "N-nothing," she replied nervously, the stutter extremely noticeable. I shook my head and made to get up, but she grabbed my arm and held it with such a tight grip. "Wait! Aren't you that new fifth year Gryffindor, Nemesis? I saw you with Fred, James, and Peaches."

I nodded. "Yeah, I am. How do you know them?" I asked.

"Fred and James are my cousins. Peaches is a family friend," she answered with a tiny smile. "I'm Dominique Weasley, by the way; fourth year Hufflepuff." She held out her hand to me. _Why does everyone shake hands?_ I asked myself as I took her hand and shook it slowly. "That's Myrtle," she added.

Turning around slowly, I looked at the ghost. "Hi, Myrtle," I said, smiling a little. "I think we came off on the wrong foot, don't you?"

Myrtle just stared at me, mouth hanging open, as if I'd gone mad. A funny glint sparkled by her transparent eyes and she snapped her mouth shut with her hand. She looked liked she recognized me from somewhere, and I was wondering why all these old people and ghosts seemed to stare at me as if they knew me. She spun around and sped off, throwing herself into a toilet with a big splash of water.

"What the fu–" I paused and looked back at Dominique, who just looked amused, and I gave her a small smile, whispering; "Sorry about my almost French."

A slight chuckle came from her. "It's alright... you know, I think I can trust you," she said, grinning.

"That's good to know... uh, does that mean you can tell me what happened?" I asked. Dominique bit down on her lip and looked around, nervous. "Hey, you tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine. I think mine will be just as big as yours. Is that a fair deal?"

Dominique smiled in acceptance; I knew I could trust her if we swapped secrets. "Well, the full moon was last night, you see, and I have to take this special potion so I won't harm anyone when I transform..." I blinked; I knew where this was going. "I'm a Werewolf."

"Oh, well it won't be so hard for me to tell you that I'm a half vampire then," I replied oh so cheerfully.

The Hufflepuff brightened from her sad expression immediately and her eyes travelled down so my now grinning mouth, where you could see fangs forming. "I was wondering why you're teeth were so pointy," she muttered, smiling happily. "We can be specie buddies! Like best friends who aren't exactly human… we're dangerous people, you do know that right?"

I placed my hand on her shoulder and laughed. "We ain't dangerous and we're not monsters," I said. "We just have... special problems that can't be healed but stopped for a certain amount of time. We have a right to be here just like any other person."

Muffled sobs echoed through the bathroom and seeing as how they weren't coming from neither me nor Dominique, they must have been coming from Myrtle. I really didn't like that ghost and the thought of her made me growl. Dominique pulled back when an actual growl creeped out through my lips, and I slapped a hand over my mouth, the both of us giggling.

We both stood up, leaning on the sinks to regain our balance, and then I helped my new best friend gather up the possessions she had brought with her to the bathroom. There was a blanket, a rubber shoe, a plate with small bits of leftover meat on it, and an empty vial that had a crack in it. There was also a plastic bag that was hidden in the sink, probably so it wouldn't be torn by Dominique's inner werewolf, and we used that to carry all the stuff in.

We both left the Myrtles bathroom, arms linked and chatting away like we'd known each other for years. Luckily no students had yet arrived on the Grand Staircase and we were able to sneak our way down to the Hufflepuff common room, using a lot of secret passages that I was thankful Dominique knew about; I'd have to remember them. The Great Hall was not far from the Hufflepuff common room so we were able to walk there without using passages.

Once getting into the hall, Dominique in new robes and all, she pulled me off towards the Hufflepuff table. Since there were no students yet in the area, I was able to have a peak at the professor without a bunch of heads bobbing up and down. Dom saw me looking at them and she immediately went into full detail on each one, pointing them out as she spoke.

"And that one over there is Rubeus Hagrid, a friend of my families. He's the grounds keeper here, but he used to teach Care of Magical Creatures, my favourite class. He's a Half Giant, mind you! James' dad, Harry Potter, is great friends with him as he knew Hagrid since his first year here. He's saved Harry a bunch of times. Did you know Harry's my uncle? Oi, Nemesis, you listening?"

No, I wasn't. My gaze was fixed on one professor who kept staring at me with the same look the oldies and ghosts gave me, and he had been ever since we walked into the hall, which was around thirty four minutes ago and now the hall was full of chattering students. This man had expressionless eyes, dark and black like tunnels, and he was pale, with black greasy-looking hair that reached his shoulders, and he wore a lot of black.

"Who's that?" I asked in a whisper, nudging Dominique lightly and nodding towards the professor.

She followed my gaze and when she caught who I was looking at, he turned away to look around the hall. "Oh uh, that's Severus Snape. He teaches Potions and he's the Head of Slytherin. James' little brother, Albus Severus, was named after him. He's one of the most disliked teachers in this school, but he's respected for what he did in the Second War. He's not exactly a great family friend, but we do talk to him every now and then." She paused to take a breath from her rambling. "Scary, is he not?" she asked, turning to look at me.

I continued to stare at him, a 'hm' sound vibrating on my lips. You could have said he looked terrifying, but he wasn't all that bad. "I guess so," I replied, smirking at Snape when he suddenly turned and caught my eye. I noticed him gasp and he turned away again, this time quicker than before.

James sat down besides me as I began to nibble on a piece of bacon. He greeted me and Dom with a warm smile and he soon began to put food onto his own plate. I wondered why he wasn't sitting at the Gryffindor table with his friends, but with us instead. Maybe he wanted to be polite and make sure I didn't get lost, like yesterday when he showed me the way to the common room.

"Hello, Mr Potter," I greeted, grabbing a buttered roll from one of the bread baskets. "Lovely of you to join us on this wonderful table of love and peace in my magical kingdom. But I'm afraid that you didn't bow before me before you sat down."

He got up from the bench, making a huffing sound, and then he turned to me, kneeling down in front of me as he took my hand in his. "My Lady Nemesis, please allow me to offer you many great apologies on not bowing before you before I sat besides you," he said gentlemanly, kissing my hand afterwards.

I raised my chin proudly. "Rise, good sir, for your apology has been accepted." And then he bowed his head, stood up, and sat down besides me, grinning with amusement. "Quite the actor, if I do say so myself," I commented. I ripped a side off the bread roll as I saw Dominique was giggling.

"I see you met my cousin, Nemmy," James said, mouth full of food as he gave me a new nickname.

Dominique looked at him in a disgusted manner. "Learn how to eat properly, James. What would your mother say if she found out you were eating without using your manners. You don't want me telling her, do you?" she warned as James gulped, taking the food down as he did so, and muttered something under his breath that sounded like; '_Stupid Dommy and her stupid little threats_'.

Of course, I tried my hardest not to laugh for James' sake, but I just couldn't help letting out a tiny squeak and I slapped my hand over my mouth, covering the sound with a cough. I was sure James caught it though as he had narrowed his eyes at me, but I could see a tiny hint of humor in his eyes. I moved my hand down to my side and shrugged at him.

"So, Dommy, how's your furry little problem?" James asked, causing me to become utterly confused. "Uh… I meant your rabbit problem."

With a grin, Dom shook her head and said; "It's alright, Jimmy, she knows."

James turned to stare at me questioningly. "Yeah, I found out this morning. I went to the abandoned girls bathroom and found Dominique there," I explained. "Of course, I had to tell her something in return so she'd trust me... but you can't know what that is, so don't ask, nosey," I added when James open his mouth. He snapped it shut almost immediately but he'd probably bombard me with questions sooner or later.

Whilst keeping in a heavy yawn, I noticed the heads of each house going down their house tables, handing out slips of paper. I wondered what they are, and when a plump and short old woman came and stood in front of me, James, and Dominique, she beamed at us after handing Dominique one of the slips.

"I wonder what you two Gryffindors are doing on this table… Fancy swapping to Hufflepuff, I wonder?" she said cheerfully, and then she moved along the table, continuing to hand out the slips of paper.

Neville came over to use once he had reached the end of the Gryffindor table and he handed us the same paper the woman had given to Dominique and the other Hufflepuff's. I was looking at the wrong side so I flicked it over and found a timetable set out on there. Neville smiled and winked at me before heading off back to his seat. Dominique and James turned to me curiously.

"How do you know Neville, Nemmy?" James asked, gently nudging me in the side with his elbow.

Smiling, I ignored him and just stared down at my timetable—how lovely it was. According to it, the Gryffindors had double Potions with the Slytherins. I heard James groan besides me and could practically feel the happiness radiating off Dominique.

"What lesson do you have now, Dom?" I asked, turning slightly in my seat to look at her.

"The best, obviously... Care of Magical Creatures with the Ravenclaws!" she replied, beaming.

James huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. "You're so lucky! We have double Potions with the Slytherins... again!" he complained. By the again, I guessed that they had double potions with the Slytherins last year also. I wondered what was so wrong about the Slytherins—they seemed nice so far.

I looked back up at the head table again and I scanned all the professors once more. There was one professor who looked like he was a seventh year. He had blonde hair and bright green eyes, and when he smiled, they lit up. I nudged Dominique and pointed him out. She immediately giggled as he looked our way, and I dropped my hand so he didn't notice I was pointing. He winked at us and turned back to talk with McGonagall.

"That's Hunter du Lac; he's French, a Metamorphmagus, and a total hotty. He finished his seventh year last year and is now the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Most of the girls fancy him… including me," she sighed dreamily. Dominique looked at me and then back at the professor, humming as she switched gazes back and forth between us. "Now what I think is that you guys would look pretty good together," she smirked, raising an eyebrow at me.

Sure, I thought the guy was extremely sexy but honestly, could Dominique be anymore of an idiot? No offence to her, of course. Someone that fine would never be interested in someone like me and besides, it's against the rules. I didn't tell her that, of course; I just shook my head and looked around the hall once more. I found that it was almost empty and most of the professors were getting up from the head table.

"Ooh, hurry up with your food, James, we have to go to lessons... well, actually, since I'm in a different class to you, I might as well go now, right?" Dom shrugged to herself and gave me a side hug. She got up from the table and left the hall, waving to us as she went.

I turned to James and found he was wolfing everything down hurriedly. Once he had finished, we raised ourselves from our seats and made off for the common room, going to get our books for potions, and after grabbing them and stuffing them into my shoulder bag, we waited for Fred to come down (he was still up in the boys dormitory), but thankfully we didn't have to wait long.

The three of us later arrived at the wooden door of the Potions classroom, which resided in the cold dungeons. I was quite surprised to find a whole gang of students standing outside the room, chatting busily, and I thought the door must have been locked as no one was moving to open it. But then suddenly it was flinged open and it slammed harshly against the brick wall besides it.

Professor du Lac was standing there with his eyes narrowed. He immediately brightened up once he noticed all of us standing around though and I got very, very confused, also feeling very, very curious about his behavior. Did he get into a fight with Snape? If so, I wondered what it could have been about. I found myself thinking that I should ask Scorpius, since Snape was his head of house. Yeah, good idea, Nemesis!


	6. New Information

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Six: New Information.**

I continued to watch as Professor du Lac strutted down the corridor, rather pompously might I add, as everyone began to file into Professor Snape's classroom. As soon as he was out of view, turning the corner with a swish of his robes, I shook my head and followed my classmates inside. I took a good look around and saw that the walls were lined with many jars filled withy many disgusting things. There were two long tables for the students to sit at and a teacher's desk in front of that, where a large cauldron sat next to it. There was also a blackboard behind that.

I went to go sit at the front row, but James grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the back, where we sat down next to each other, Peaches on the other side of me. I looked around the room for Scorpius, seeing as he had this class with us, and found him at the front on the right hand side. He turned around and found me looking, so I waved; he smiled. James seemed to have seen and he gave me a confused look, one which I replied to with a shrug.

Snape was standing by the blackboard; he took the register, stopped at my name for a second, and then carried on. "This year, we will be splitting up into partners. And no, you will not be splitting yourselves up, I will be splitting you up, according to whom I think you will work best with," he said. His mouth didn't move much as he spoke, but the words came out loud and clear. "Your partners will be up on the board—" Names appeared there, just like he said. "—and I want you to make one of the potion's you were taught to make in previous years."

Searching for my name on the board, I found that I was partnered up with... Scorpius, yay! I looked to his seat, but found he wasn't sitting there anymore, so I looked around the room, still not being able to find him. A 'boo' came from behind me and I spun around to find he was there.

"Ahhh..." I trailed out dryly.

"At least pretend to be scared," he pouted.

"I was scared."

A moment's silence.

"You are weird, Gryffindor."

"Back at you, Slytherin."

We grinned at each other for a bit before he sat down on the stool Peaches had previously used; she'd moved off to work with some Slytherin guy, but James was still sitting on my other side, working with Destiny. We decided what to make (I had no clue what he was talking about at first) and then Scorpius went off to the storeroom to get the ingredients whilst I pulled his potions book out of his bag as well as his cauldron.

He came back a few minutes later, put the stuff on the desk, and then flicked to the correct page in the book. We began to brew said potion, him doing most of the work seeing as I had no idea what to do; all I knew was that the potion was called Babbling Beverage. Scorpius kept telling me to do a couple of things for him, which got quite annoying because I hate being ordered about. He also said he was surprised how quick I was learning.

After a while, Snape told us to stop (we'd already finished our potion by then and had decided to talk extremely quietly) and he came around to check out what we'd brewed up. He passed ours with just a quick glance and a nod, indicating that ours was good, and then moved onto James and Destiny's.

Potions was now one of my favourite lessons, basically because I'm partnered with Scorpius.

The bell-chime rang and Snape dismissed us. Some students left in a hurry but Scorpius, James, and I were much slower at doing so. I had only just packed my bag when Snape called me over to him. I shrugged at the boys and told them I'd catch up, and then I went over to him.

"The Headmistress has told me about your... little problem. You are vampire, correct?" he asked, already knowing the answer. I grinned, showing him my newly found fangs. "You are to come here every morning before classes to take a Blood-Replenishing Potion."

"And if I forget?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as if I were merely curious.

"You will not forget, understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir." I saluted him as I smirked for no perticular reason.

Snape raised an eyebrow and then waved his hand towards the door, dismissing me. I spun on my heel and marched off. The door closed behind me with a bang and I found the boys standing there, glaring at each other. I almost laughed, but didn't as they turned on me.

"Is that the secret you told Dom?" James demanded to know. He didn't really seem as though he were angry and he looked like he didn't really care. Well, why would he? He has a werewolf for a cousin, for heavens sake!

"You two _listened _through thedoor_?_" I hissed, feeling quite angry myself. It kind of upset me to know that they'd listened in on my conversation.

"Yeah, we did, Nemesis. We don't mind though, honestly... but seriously, I'm a little scared to know that you could end up biting my head off," Scorpius admitted, a huge grin on his face, one that made it seem that we were all just making up a huge joke.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed the two boy's arms, and dragged the two off with me. "I'm glad you guys are good with this... but now's the question; why were you two glaring at each other?" I asked, looking from one to the other.

"Well, you see... we don't exactly like each other..." James informed me.

"More like loathe," corrected Scorpius, who glared at James once more, to which I raised my eyebrow at. "Our fathers didn't really like each other, you see, and well, Potter here is a complete idiot, if you get me."

I laughed aloud. "So you guys hate each other because your fathers hate each other? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" I said. "Don't listen to them; just be friends, seriously. They don't control who you hang out and talk with. Boys are so stupid sometimes!"

"Yeah, I guess," James laughed nervously. We stopped walking and James put his hand out to Scorpius. "Friends?"

After eyeing the outstretched hand for about two minutes, Scorpius grasped the hand and agreed. I grinned and we started walking again, on our way to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Boy were we late. Oh well... so much for good first impressions, huh?

We walked through many, many, many corridors and hallways, up many, many, many stairways, around many, many, many corners and turns, until we reached a wooden door with metal spikes sticking out of it. _What the hell?_ I wondered what that was about before I grasped the handle and pulled open the door, revealing a very wide and very long classroom, one which was filled with desks.

The three of us walked inside and found that the professor wasn't there, but many fifth year Slytherins and Gryffindors were, and most of them turned around to look us. They looked shocked to see us, but that was probably because James and Scorpius were together. There were three seats left; two next to two random Slytherins and one next to Fred. James immediately _skipped _over to Fred, whilst Scorpius and I gave each other odd looks, before sitting down next to a Slytherin each.

Scorpius and his Slytherin chatted like old friends whilst I just leant my head on the table, avoiding my Slytherins gaze. I did manage to notice that he looked almost like Snape though... except his hair wasn't greasy and his nose wasn't hooked. After a while I couldn't stand the silence anymore, so I sat up and turned to him, tilting my head to the side (you've probably noticed that I do that a lot).

"Hey, I'm Nemesis," I said, sticking out my hand and flashing the Slytherin a dazzling smile. "Nemesis Riddle."

"I know," he muttered. Hm, he didn't seem to talk much. I looked at him inquiringly, hand still stuck out, and then he seemed to catch the point. "Zacharias Snape." He shook my hand but quickly detached it as if I was about to burn his hand off or something.

Shaking my head, I turned away, just before a door banged open and Professor du Lac appeared on top of the stone stairs that lead into another room; must be his office. I had forgotten he was the teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts, but I shook it clear from my mind.

"Sorry I'm late, class," Professor du Lac apologised, now standing in front of his desk, grinning brightly around the room. "Had some private business to take of. Now, the register." He took the register, stopped at my name for a bit, just like Snape had, and then put the list away. "Now, to start the year off, we're going to do something easy; it seems you haven't done any work on... non-humans and half-breeds?" The class shook their heads, indicating they hadn't. "Good, good, that mean's we're going to learn about Vampires—" I glanced worriedly at James there. "—Werewolves—" Dominique's turn to look worried. "—Veelas—" I noticed Peaches smirk here. "—Leprechauns, Hags, Giants, Goblins, Merpeople, House-Elves, Centaurs, _and_ a lot more than that. We are going to learn about them in the order I just said; Vampires first then. Take notes, please."

I leaned back in my chair, hands behind my head, and only half-listened; if he was going to teach us about Vampires, then what would be the point in listening? Hm, I don't see one... nope, absolutely none at all. I kept my chair from tipping over by clipping my feet around the leg of the desks, seeing as I couldn't use my hands because they were linked at the back of my head. Zacharias looked at me irritably; I just grinned at him.

"Now, who can tell me something about Vampires?" asked Du Lac. "Miss Riddle, perhaps?"

A bang indicated that my chair, as well as I, had fallen forward, back onto four legs, in surprise of being addressed. "Uh... they drink blood?" I didn't really want to say anything on the matter, in case someone noticed that a physical description of one was quite the same as my physical description.

"Could you give me a bigger fact; a physical description, perhaps?" he said... well, actually, he was more of ordering me to do it.

"Fine... _sir_," I all but hissed. "Vampires are usually waxy pale and gaunt, with deadly sharp teeth, which they use for puncturing the neck and sucking out the blood in your body, as well as having long, sharp nails, which they use to dig into your skin, to keep you from struggling. Female Vampires are usually extremely beautiful though. When they are in the sun, some Vampires tend to smoke a little and squint quite a lot, but they usually wear a lot of clothes, mostly black, and sun glasses then. " I smiled politely, hoping my fangs didn't creep out. "Is that good enough, sir?" I wondered.

"Very good, Miss Riddle. Fifteen points to Gryffindor."

_Yay me! _I cheered, doing a mini victory dance in the back of my head. I was always addicted to Vampires before I knew I was one, so that was extremely easy peasy lemon squeasy. You know, it had always been my wish to be a Werewolf, but a Vampire was close enough, I guess. I then decided to listen, so I took out some parchment and my eagle-feathered quill, and started to scratch things down on the paper.

"A Vampire as Miss Riddle has said, sucks out your blood from mainly the neck, although they do bite in other places as well. When they wish to turn you into one, they do not have to suck; they inject the venom from their fangs, although sometimes sucking the blood can turn you into a Vampire, too," Du Lac added as an afterthought. "It's not impossible to be born a Vampire and yet there is _no such thing _as Half-Vampires."

I gasped and froze. Neville had told me that I was Half-Vampire... so... so... he lied to me. I had to ask him about that and if he didn't give me the _right_ answer this time, I'd probably go berserk. But I wouldn't know where to find him; I had no idea where he would be after classes or at breaks, so I'd probably have to ask one of my friends, but then they'd be wondering why. And then there was the question on how; I could always go up to him and demand to know why, or take the polite route and make normal conversation first. The other question is; would he tell me the truth? Ugh, I just wish he'd told me the truth in the first place, for Gods sake!

An elbow nudged me in the ribs and my head snapped around to look around at that Zachary guy (Or was it Zeek? No, it definitely started with Zach... Eh, whatever.) and he nodded at Du Lac, who seemed to have stopped talking. Hm, must have been too engrossed in my thoughts to take notice... well, it was either that or I gasped out too loudly.

"Is everything alright, Miss Riddle?" Du Lac asked, and I nodded. "Good. Now, most Vampires have superior strength, speed, reflexes, and heightened senses, and when I say most, I mean not all do." Forgetting about the Half-Vampire situation, I could _feel_ my eyes sparkle excitedly; I had to try those out. "They can eat human food and drink, but it takes a while for them to get used to the taste. Vampires wounds heal fairly quickly and it's also impossible to have a werewolf-vampire, but you can have a vampire-wizard or witch. Vampires are _not_ immortal, but they do age slower than the normal humans"

Suddenly, a question popped up in my brain. I raised my hand high in the air and tilted my head to the side curiously. "Sir, can you cure Vampirism?" I asked, not waiting for him to ask me what I wanted. I sunk my hand down, back to my side, just a second after I said my question.

"No, unfortunately," he answered. For some reason, my heart seemed to lighten, not sink, and I felt happy about it, not sad. "But a good Blood-Replenishing Potion could hold their thirst for blood, thankfully. People do say if you drive a silver dagger into their heart, they die, but that's not possible, because Vampires cannot die, although they do have a weakness towards silver, the sun, garlic, and holy crosses." Well, it's a good thing the dishes and cutlery in the Great Hall are gold, not silver, I thought.

Once again the bell-chime rang. It was time for me to find out if I had those superior abilities... but maybe first I'd talk to Zacharias (yes, I managed to remember his name) and invite him to hang out with James, Scorpius, Davlon, Fred, Peaches, Dominique and I. Oh, along with anyone else who wantedo join us. Professor Du Lac gave us homework, dismissed us, and then as everyone was leaving the classroom, Zacharias was still packing his stuff into his bag. He looked up and seemed shocked to me still standing there and still grinning at him, but the shock came and went so fast I thought I'd imagined it.

"Yo, Zach... you don't mind me calling you that right?" I didn't give him enough time to answer because I carried on. "I was wondering; do you wanna hang out or something? You know, with James, Fred, Scorpius, Peaches and a load of others who I can't be bothered to name right now?" He blinked. "Can you hear me or should I do sign language? I'm good at that!"

"Yes, I can hear you," he muttered.

"Oho, it speaks!"

"Obviously."

"You know, you don't have to come along, but honestly, I suggest you do... I'm good at dragging people."

Surprisingly, he laughed; I grinned wider. But then he stopped and looked to my mouth. I immediately stopped grinning.

"I don't know. Hang out with Potter? He'd probably hex me for coming near him. Weasley? Same with him. Malfoy? He's alright; at least he doesn't do much. Menzel? Forget it. Besides, none of them like me... I don't talk much, you see," he said.

"Dude, you do realise that you just strung a bunch of sentences together and said them out loud?" I faked shock, even though I was quite shocked anyway. He just blinked again. "Well, if you don't want them lot around, why not just us? But wait, what's wrong with Peaches?" I asked.

"Everyone knows—or at least thinks—she's a Veela. Hang around her too much and any guy will go crazy." I looked at him in confusment so he began to explain. "Veela's are these beautiful women who's appearance and dance is magically seductive to most males. What's worse though is when Veela's are angry; they change into they scaled birds and throw fireballs out of their hands."

I shivered. "Wow... I don't want to meet a male one of those... if there is such thing."

"Well obviously there is, otherwise there wouldn't be any Veela's at all."

"Oh. So, you wanna hang out with me and them, or just me, or none of us?" I asked, giving him a look that said _'I-haven't-got-all-day-you-know'_.

With a nod towards the door, Zacharias turned to leave the room and began to walk off. I grinned again and followed. We walked in silence for a while, but when we got to the end of the corridor, he started telling me what rooms were what. I listened carefully, not wanting to loose my way or anything. He also explained what different classes were like and about, which was interesting. He then told me if I got lost, I'd just have to find a legendary map called the Marauders Map. He told me it was just a rumour thought after I got all excited about wanting to find it.

The two of us finally reached the grounds, where I saw James and Fred messing around with their wands, Scorpius, Peaches, Dominique and a load of others watching, and I pointed them out to Zacharias, who didn't look so happy to see them. However, he did agree to go over to them with me. I skipped over to them, dragiing him with me as he complained about how annoying they were, and I burgded through the large crowed of onlookers.

"Hey, you guys! Showing off, I see," I called out.

"We're not showing off! We're giving entertainment," James corrected. He then looked behind me and saw Zacharias, and a frown etched onto his forehead. "What's that slimeball doing here?" he demanded, poking his wand in Zacharias' direction.

"He's my friend," I informed him, glaring at James dangerously. "You got a problem with that?" I took a step closer.

My glare and step forward obviously didn't seem to get through James' thick skull though because he pushed me away and I fell to the floor. He then pointed his wand at Zacharias, who was about to get his wand out as well, and muttered something that I didn't catch and the half-out wand flew over to him, also knocking Zacharias off his feet. By the time I had pulled myself to my feet and snatched James wand off of him, grabbing his arm and spinning him around at the same time, Zacharias was dangling upside-down in the air.

"Leave him alone, James!" I ordered. "What's he done to you to you?"

"Well, you know, Nammy," said James, smirking. "It's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean." He laughed and so did the crowd. I noticed Davlon amongst them, but he didn't look amused... more annoyed than anything.

I hesitantly passed James his wand back and pushed him away from me, but before he could do anything, I pulled out my own and pointed it at him. I heard a couple of collective gasps, to which I didn't know was for the fact that it looked like I was about to hex him or to my wand; people edged closer, you see, their eyes on it, and that's what made me not sure.

"Drop him, Potter," I hissed. "Or meet the end of my wand."

"You don't know any spells so how can you do anything to me?" he laughed; a couple of others did too. They seemed to like laughing at everything James said and that got on my nerves. "You'd be drowning in the lake before you could even look in a book for one."

"You wanna bet?"

"Are you serious?"

Oddly, I was and yet, I didn't know any spells, but I had some random words stuck in my mind. I decided to take a chance and picked one. "_Langlock!_" I muttered, waving my wand. I didn't know if it had worked, but it seemed that James was not able to talk properly; odd mumbling noises kept issuing from him. Then I thought over what I said and understood its words – Your tongue instantly got glued to the roof of your mouth.

"That should keep you quiet," I laughed. Thinking of trying one more spell, I waved my wand again and muttered; "_Rictusempra!_" James started laughing his head off, showing that his tongue was no longer stuck. I flicked my wand again and he stopped. "Well, that was fun..."

James gasped for air, gulping some down, before turning on me. "How did you know that spell?" he demanded to know. "And how in the name of Merlin did my tongue get stuck to the roof of my mouth? Also, how did you get_ that_ wand?"

I looked down at my wand, chuckled, and looked back up at him. "Well, you see, I didn't open any books before I came, so I didn't know any spells; those two just... came to me," I explained. "You must not know what my first spell is, so I'm not going to tell you. Oh, and I got my wand from Ollivanders; why, is there something special about it?"

He glared at me, snatched my wand from my hand, and examined it. "It can't be..." he muttered. "No way, I thought it was all a legend; The Wand of Hogwarts!" He yelled the last part out and excited whispers started going around the watchers. I immediately came to ask what the bloody hell he was on about. "Don't you know about it? It's a legend... well, not so anymore because you have it. This wand was made by the founders of Hogwarts! Those Gold Digger people have been looking for it for years! And you've got it! You're like, its master... well, mistress, actually. It's the next best thing to the Elder Wand, which has to be real if this is!"

I grabbed my wand back and re-pointed it at him. "I have no idea what you are on about, Potter, but I do know that if you do not let Zach down right this instant, I will have to hex you to heaven and back," I threatened.

"Alright, alright... _Liberacorpus!_" James waved his wand and then stuck it back in his trouser pocket.

Zacharias fell to floor, got up in quite a hurry, and then picked his wand up from the ground, also stowing it his trouser pocket. James glared at me and then hurried away as the crowd surrounded me, asking all types of questions. I backed up into a fairly large tree as they kept advancing towards me.

"Have you really got the Wand of Hogwarts?"

"What's the spell you used on Potter?"

"Can you show us the wand?"

"How can you be sure?"

"What is the wands core and wood?"

"Why won't you answer us?"

"Come on, there not hard questions!"

"SHUT UP!" I all but screamed. They backed away slightly. "I have no idea if I really have it; I don't know anything about it! I'm not about to tell you the spell because I'm selfish like that! No, I can't be bothered! Why the hell do you want to know? I just answered your questions, and yes, some of them are hard, okay?" I took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and then pushed my way out of the crowed, who looked like they wanted to ask more questions.

The wand that had felt so right in my hand suddenly came to annoy the hell out of me and I'd only just had it a day.


	7. Frank Can't Fly?

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Seven: Learning To Fly.**

My proper first day of Hogwarts and I'd already gained an enemy. Great, isn't it? When I went to go to speak to James, he tried to hex me but failed because I ran away before he could even touch the handle of his wand. I was going to fight instead but decided against it for some reason that I don't know myself. The other thing I did after the incident was find Zach, who was hiding out in the Potions classroom. It wasn't that hard to find him really, seeing as his father is the Potions Master.

Zach first told me—more like yelled at me—that he didn't need any protection or help and then he dragged me into his father's office and plunged my head into a bowl of water with swirly silvery things he said are memories in it. Yeah, he showed me a memory that looked just like the fight James, Zach and I had, and guess whose it was? Snapes! Zach knew about it not because his father showed him purposely but because he accidently looked in on it and afterwards got in a load of trouble, though he wouldn't tell me what happened.

After all of that, I decided to head down to the Quidditch Pitch with the Firebolt I bought down Diagon Alley. I didn't know who was going to teach me how to fly now James and I had ended our friendship, but I had remembered that Fred and Peaches had arranged to meet me down by the pitch when we first met. They waren't there when I arrived so I figured maybe they were late and decided to wait. I sat in the stands and started to smooth my hands on the fine wood of my broom, admiring it with a small smile on my face.

"Hey... you're Nemesis Riddle, right?"

I spun around so fast that my broom fell off my lap. I didn't take any notice nor did I bother to pick it up though. I found a boy who looked about my age standing just a few metres away. He looked like Neville but he was much more gorgeous; he being much, much younger is what I mean.

"Yeah, that's right," I replied, tilting my head to the side. "You look like Nev—Professor Longbottom."

The boy chuckled and then nodded. "Well, I should do, seeing as how I'm his son - Frank's the name." He came and sat down next to me.

"But wait a second, he never told me he had a son and I've never seen you around his house before," I said, confused through and through.

"That's probably because I was staying at my great grandmothers all summer," Frank informed me. "It was hell, I'm telling you! I feel incredibly sorry for my dad; he had to live with her twenty-four seven every day since the beginning of his life." Weird but unawkward silence. "So... you're the girl who's basically moved in with us every summer, huh? Dad told me about it; you've even got a bedroom there, lucky girl."

I laughed and nodded, grinning. "I'd laugh if he suddenly adopted me now."

Frank muttered something that sounded oddly like; "I wouldn't be surprised if he did" but then I thought it was my imagination... as usual. "Well, he doesn't really need too since you've already moved in. He says you're like family or something along those lines."

"Does this mean I have to call you 'brother'?" I asked.

"If you must."

"Yippee for us."

"Uh huh."

We grinned at each other for a mille-second, and then I finally reached down and picked up my Firebolt, holding it with a firm grip that I hadn't used last time I had held it. I put on my super duper best pleading—or begging—look and turned to face Frank, who eyed me suspiciously, as though I were about to attack him for no reason with the broom.

"Seeing as how Fred isn't coming, he must be angry with me, just like James, and that will mean that I won't learn how to fly until God only knows when..." I trailed off, sighed and gazed longily at the sky, and then turned back to him. "I wonder who will be good and generous enough to help me out with such a task."

Frank gave a very obvious fake cough—well, to me it was—and turned away with a rejecting scent about him. "Sorry but I'm not the best flyer in the world," he said. "You'll either have to learn to do it yourself, ask Madame Hooch, or ask someone from the Quidditch Team, besides from Fred and James."

I groaned and sent a short glare at him. "Fine then..." I muttered as I thought over my three options. "I'll teach myself."

Mounting the broom and holding on tightly, barely noticing the 'good luck' Frank had given me, I drew a deep breath and then let it out, and touched off from the ground. I was hovering in the sky. I leant forward and shot off into the middle of the pitch with a furious speed. I was having fun already and I didn't even know what I was doing! Leaning forward a little once more, I began to train myself in gaining speed and slowing down, switching between every different speed I could manage doing.

The turning on the broomstick was the next part I had to work on; I could turn, of course, but it was a little wonky, obviously. I flew circles around the pitch, over and over again, until I became slightly dizzy, and by that time, I had done about twenty-four rounds and learned how to turn properly without thinking of slipping off sideways. On my last turn though, I did actually slip off sideways and was hanging from my broomstick by the tips of my fingers. I only just managed to swing myself back up.

Within another half an hour, I would have said I was a natural at flying, and then I heard Frank shout out that he had brought out a Trunk which held the four balls for Quidditch and was going to charm the Quaffle to shoot at me as I tried to keep it from going into the hoops. This wasn't an easy task at first, but after a couple of minutes, I got the hang of it and was quite able to block anything you shot my way; it must have been thanks to the fact that I was usually the Goal Keeper when we played Football at the Orphanage.

Chaser was the next thing I wanted to learn. Frank had a bit of trouble coming up with an idea on how to learn it but eventually he came up with charming a suit of armour to come 'alive' and protect the goals as it flew on a broomstick. I did lengths up and down the pitch and I waited for him to return and when he did, there was an armour suit flying on a tatty old broom behind him. The empty metal man zoomed up the three hoops and I began to chuck the Quaffle around, aiming for the hoops. The armour was good and I later found it was thanks to Frank because he was controlling it with his wand. Another hour later and I rarely missed a hoop or the suit caught the Quaffle.

Next was Beatering. Frank let loose the Bludgers and I grabbed myself a bat as the armoured suit made its way back to the castle; from now onwards there would be an oddly battered suit of armour in the castle, holding a broomstick and missing its head. The Bludgers were feisty little buggers and kept aiming them selves to shoot directly at my head. I batted the two of them away a couple of times but I mostly ducked or dodged them. When one of them had purposely bashed into my leg, I had had enough and _finally_ wanted to go onto Seeking.

Although it was getting darker, I could still see the golden fluttering ball glinting here and there, flying around me in random directions. I had lost it once or twice, but most of the time I could see it immediately and just zoomed after it with a terrific speed. I even caught it eight times! Seeking was really fun and I liked it better than any of the positions. It was a couple of minutes until curfew by the time I had decided to end my self-teaching trials and so I pocketed the Golden Snitch, wanting to keep it for myself.

Flying back down with a spectacular dive, I landed softly on the ground and Frank came running over to me. I had only just noticed then that I was breathing heavily; I slowed it down and closed my eyes for a second, then opened them again and grinned brightly at Frank, though I was still panting, but lightly this time.

"That was so amazing! If it weren't two seconds after curfew, I would still be up there," I panted out.

"Hah, why am I not surprised? You're a natural on a broomstick, Nemesis! A natural at Quidditch, too, might I add?" Frank admitted, his cheeks going a light shade of pink. "Seeker is definitely the best position for you though; you could see the Snitch anywhere it went when I couldn't! Chaser would be the next position for you though... You should join the Team even!"

It was my turn to blush. Sure I thought I was quite good at flying and at Quidditch, but I didn't actually think going for the Team would be the best idea, seeing as how I had only just learned how to do everything I had just done, though just hearing someone say that I was a natural at both things made me feel extremely happy for some reason.

"I think... I don't... Maybe... I-I'm not good enough to get onto the Team just yet," I said, although my mind said I was lying to myself and to Frank.

"What, are you kidding? You could even beat James Potter at it!"

With a shake of my head, I gave Frank his ever first hug from me and told him I'd think about it, also muttering my thanks. In the corridors, we passed Davlon, who was probably heading for the Ravenclaw common room, and I waved my hello. He nodded back in acknowledgment but didn't actually say anything; I shrugged and continued on. Frank and I also passed the suit of armour from earlier on and we saw that he had gotten his head back and all his dents were gone, as well as the fact that he had gotten rid of the broomstick, and I was sadly disappointed to see this.

The two of reached the Gryffindor common room and Frank gave the password to the Fat Lady, who happily opened up for us, and he let me walk inside the portrait hole first, like a true Gentleman. As I actually entered the common room, I saw Peaches sitting with James and Fred, and the three looked up at me. Peaches grinned and came skipping over, giving me a quick hug. James glared at me and then continued to ignore me, and Fred gave me a weak smile and mouthed 'sorry'. I turned away, not accepting his slightly silent apology because he bailed on me, and followed Peaches up to the Fifth Year Girls Dormitory, just after giving Frank a final hug as a goodbye.

As soon as I entered the dorm, Peaches rounded on me. "So, you and Frank, huh?" she teased with a wink, and I slapped her arm lightly.

"Of course not! I just stay with him and his family during the Summer Holidays, seeing as how I'm an Orphan and don't want to be stuck in that damned Orphanage for life," I explained, deciding to finally let it out that I practically lived at the Longbottom's house.

"Ooh, well that explains why you and Prof. Longbottom are all buddy-buddy-like." She laughed at the mock horrified expression I had on. "If it's not Frank, then maybe it's that Slytherin guy... what's his name; Zacharias Snape, I think?" She smirked. "Saving his behind and the like. You do know that James is going to loathe you if you're even friends with him, right? And Fred won't talk to you either because he'll be too scared to speak in case James decides to hate him too."

I nodded. "Yeah, I pretty much figured that out already."

"Okay, well, I'm just warning you; it's either Snape or James and Fred."

"I don't take sides, nor do I choose between people."

Peaches shrugged and then pulled out her pyjamas to change for bed. I did the same, and as soon as the two of us were in bed, Peaches said a muffled goodnight, but I didn't bother to reply. I was too busy thinking about the events of my first Hogwarts experiences. Quidditch... Should I really join the house team as the Seeker or a Chaser? Fred had said, when we talked to each other, that they were going to hold trials later in the month. And with this whole Snape and James thing... Maybe I should be neither of their friends and everything will go okay? But I want to be friends with both of them so that didn't work either. I'd have to pick one of them or try and get them friends, like I did with Scorpius and James.

I shook my head subconsciously and closed my eyes. I needed to go to sleep, I was tired and it was school night, and Defence Against the Dark Arts was tomorrow as well as Potions; my two favourite subjects. I liked Charms too! But not as much as the others. Clearing my mind, I shifted the pillow under my head into a comfortable position and tried to fall asleep... What a task.


	8. A Mysterious Letter

_Authors Note:__ I've been thinking a lot, a real lot, for some good ideas for the fan fiction, and I came up with this; wouldn't it be cool if you could just make up a character in just a few seconds and put it in someone else's fan fiction? Well, now you can, because I'm asking you make up a character and post it as a review using the template bellow. I will choose three or five people only, maybe more._

_Name of Your Character:_

_Gender and Blood Type:_

_Age and Birthday:_

_Hogwarts House and Year:_

_Physical Description:_

_Personality Description:_

_Likes and Dislikes:_

_Character Background: _

_Plot in the Story:_

_If you want, you could even be one of Nemesis' best friends, or you absolutely loathe her. You could even be out to kill her if you like. You don't have to be a student, but I would like it if you were. Having your character in this is story does not mean you will have no part in coming up with ideas after you have given a plot already, because you will. Just contact me (if you are chosen, that is), give me the idea, and I will think it over._

_Okay, well, that's about all. I hope most of you will apply and I also hope you enjoy this chapter._

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Eight: A Mysterious Letter.**

Grabbing hold of my long hair, I pinned it up in a bun with a clip, and nervously adjusted the strap of my button and sticker covered, rainbow and checkered shoulder bag on my shoulder. I was off to see Neville at last, feeling very ready to ask him about the truth of my Vampire type, but also feeling very scared and nervous. I hoped he would tell me the truth; of course I already knew I was a full Vampire, since I learnt in Defense the day before that there is no such thing as a half, but I wanted to see why he never told me.

With a deep breath, I knocked on the door of his office. It creaked open to reveal Neville who greeted me with a big grin and stepped back for me to enter. I walked inside and sat down on the white cushioned chair opposite his desk that was clustered with the odd bits and bots, a large pot with some flower I didn't know the name of growing there, and took a good look around the room.

The walls were plain wallpaper in the colour of cream and the flooring was brown carpet, and the furniture was all white but the wood was oak. Behind Neville's desk was a large bookcase filled with dusty volumes of books, novels, and other study materials, and to the side of it was a medium-sized glass cabinet that was full of bottles labeled _Firewhisky_ and _Butterbeer_, which I guessed were two of the most liked wizarding alcohols in the world. Up on the ceiling there was no electrical light but instead, unlit candles were nailed to the walls.

"So, how can I help you?" Neville asked as he sat at the opposite side of the desk, smiling still. "Were there any problems today?"

"Well, no, there weren't any problems," I began, stretching out and resting my legs up on the desk, placing my hands behind my head. "Yesterday I taught myself to fly, made lots of friends, including Professor Snape's son, and uh, found out a secret about Dominique Weasley." I looked at Neville pointedly for since he was the Deputy Headmaster, then he should know of the secret.

He looked surprised. "Oh, that… Did you tell her yours in return?" He pushed my feet off the table as he spoke and they fell to the floor with a thud. I removed my hands from behind my head and brought my legs up and folded them underneath me.

I nodded. "Sure, otherwise she wouldn't have told me. I found her in Myrtle's Bathroom when I exploring this morning."

"Oh, I see… haven't told anyone else, have you?" he asked, looking at me with curiosity.

"Uh, well… Scorpius Malfoy and James Potter found out; they listened through the door when Professor Snape asked me to stay behind after Potions so he could talk about my_ problem_," I explained. "James didn't mind since his cousin's a werewolf and Scorpius said it didn't change anything as long as I didn't bite his head off." I chuckled quietly under my breath.

Neville leaned back in his chair and brought his hand up to his mouth. "Three people. Hopefully they won't tell anyone."

"Yes, but that's not the reason why I'm here, though it does have something to do with my Vampirism." It was time to ask about the truth. "In Defense Against the Dark Arts yesterday we learnt about Vampires, and Professor Du Lac told us that there's no such thing as Half Vampires…" I trailed off and hoped he knew were this was going.

Flushing in shame, Neville bit his lower lip. He seemed to be doing some serious thinking. "Uh well, you see… Professor Du Lac only just started working as the Defense professor this year, so he's bound to get a few things wrong in his work," he lied.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yeah, and that's why your not acting all nervous all of a sudden," I said sarcastically. "Tell me the truth, Neville."

"Okay, fine." He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and leant forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the desk and crossing his arms. "I only lied to you because the Headmistress thought it would be best for you to not know the whole truth. Professor McGonagall also thought that by having your mind think you were only a half, your body would need a lot less blood than usual."

"That plan was working until second lesson," I admitted. "I've been craving blood a lot more since I found out the truth from Professor Du Lac. I've locked myself in my dorm in fear of biting someone since sixth lesson ended, and I just managed to get enough bravery to come and see you."

He nodded understandingly. "I see… When Professor Snape asked you to stay behind after Potions, Nemesis, did he give you the Blood-Replenishing Potion, or did he just tell you to go see him every Saturday for it?"

"No, he didn't give it to me, but he did say every Saturday. Why?" I asked.

"Well, now you've found out the truth, your mind will be telling your body you want more blood, so you're going to need to see Professor Snape for the potion every morning now," he explained. "I'll have to contact Professor McGonagall about these changes."

Suddenly, one of my hands automatically flew to my stomach, and the other went to cover my mouth. There was a pain in both stomach and head, and the faint taste of blood was there in my mouth. At first I didn't know what was happening to me, but as soon as the smell of blood reached my nose, I knew what was going on; I was hungry in _that_ way.

"Umm, Professor…" I gulped and sank further down into my seat; he smelled good, like a mixture of dirt and flowers.

Neville took one look at me and paled slightly as he gave a short nod. He opened one of the drawers in his desk and started rummaging around through the contents of it. He pulled out a potion vial filled with blood red liquid. I recognized it almost immediately; it was a Blood-Replenishing Potion, just like the one Professor Snape had shown me down in the Potions classroom.

"Here, take all of this," Neville ordered, handing it to me.

Bringing the vial up to my lips, I began to glug it all down, feeling the liquid flow down my throat, tasting exactly like real blood, though there was also some other taste in it that was horrible and made me both shiver and grimace. Feeling content but not fully satisfied, I slowly leaned back in my chair once more and closed my eyes.

"Mmm, yum! I feel like I've just actually had a whole pint of proper blood," I commented with a lick of my lips.

"Yes, well, you should do," Neville said. "A Blood-Replenishing Potion is usually used for injured people who have lost or are loosing a lot of blood; it gives the blood back. But I'm sure Professor Snape already told you that."

I opened my eyes and shrugged. "I think so, though I can't really remember that part."

"Alright, now that's settled, is there anything else you need to talk to me about?" he asked.

"Well..." I could have told him about the fight between myself, James, and Zach, or the fact that everyone kept saying that my wand was the _Wand of Hogwarts_, but I didn't think about doing so at the time. "No, not really. I'll see you tomorrow, Neville."

"Until your third lesson," he said with a wink as I got up from my seat and picked up my bag, slinging the strap onto my shoulder. "Bye, Nemesis. Oh, and remember: if you have any more questions or problems, just come see me."

After opening the door, I turned back to Neville and flashed him a quick grin. "I will." And with that, I left the room, shutting the door behind me.

Now that I had talked to Neville, I didn't really need to do anything else so I decided to head back to the Gryffindor common room. I reached the portrait of the Fat Lady after taking five wrong turns at the most and I spoke the password and entered through to the common room quietly, ignoring the Fat Lady as she asked how my first day had been.

The first person I saw as I entered was James. He was sitting in front of the fire and staring at the portrait hole, Fred and Peaches sitting on a table behind him, both playing Wizards Chess very competitively against one another. As soon as he saw we walk in, he was up and over to me in a flash, an expression of being downcast on his face. He looked at his feet and bit his lower lip nervously, glancing fleetly up at me every few seconds as though thinking up something to say before forgetting what it was.

"What do you want, Potter?" I demanded, glaring up at him.

He took a deep breath, dropped his hands to his sides, linking them behind his back instead, and looked apologetically down at me. "I was—I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did and I—I want to be friends again," he stuttered. "Could we—I mean, will you forgive me?"

I sighed, my expression softening, and crossed my arms across my chest. "I don't know, James… How could you possibly be that cruel? What did Zach ever do to you? When I asked you earlier, you said it was just for the fact that he existed. Well, that's not much of an excuse!"

"I know, but—" James flinched and grimaced as I cut him off, my voice rising a little in volume, becoming slightly angrier.

"There are no buts about it, James!" I snapped. "You and Scorpius hated each other for no reason and you guys became friends with one simple persuasion that took five seconds, and you and Zach also hate each other for no reason, but you won't become friends with him, no matter what any of us say! How's it so hard to make up with Zach if it was easy for you and Scorpius to do so?" I asked hysterically.

"I would though, I would be friends with him! It's just that he's been my main pranking target for four years and I don't think he's about to forgive me now," James said quickly so I wouldn't interrupt him again. "I didn't prank Scorpius as much as I do to Snape, so it was easy for me and him to become friends all of sudden. And besides, if I asked Snape for a truce, he'd just laugh in my face!"

Sighing again, I dropped my arms to my side. "Alright, I'll speak to Zach about it tomorrow. Please just start making an effort to become friends with him. I don't want two of my friends fighting when I decide to hang out with one of them instead of the other."

James nodded and grinned. "I'll try, I promise." And he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a tight hug, which caught me by a surprise that lasted for a few seconds before I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him back.

Pulling away, flushed with embarrassment from the cat calls Fred had been calling out (I quote, "Yeah, get in there, James!" and "Feel the love, Nemesis!"), I gave Peaches and Fred a wave and a smile each and departed from the company of the common room, heading towards the staircase that led up into the Girls Dormitories.

Once entering through the door that had a sign saying _Fifth Years_ on it, I went straight over to my bed and sat down on it. It didn't take long to notice a piece of paper sticking out from under my pillow, and I pulled it out gently and unfolded it. The paper was medium-sized, square, and on it was the most elegant looking writing I had ever seen. It read;

_Dear Nemesis Riddle,_

_You do not know who I am and you will never know if you do not follow my instructions. Come to the Forbidden Forest at midnight on the 30th of September. Bring no one but yourself otherwise I shall not show. I promise no harm shall come to you if you do so._

The note wasn't signed.


	9. Two Animals

_Authors Note:__ Just to let you know, there's only four character spaces left. This is because I've already picked the first character. The character's name is Legion Black and the owner of said character is _thedeathchandelier_ (he was the first person to apply)_._ Congratulations to him! Now remember; four character spaces left, people! Get them whilst you can!_

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Nine: Two Animals.**

When I was little I read these detective books. They were about men who had to crack hidden codes or find some unknown person who wrote someone a threatening letter to solve some mystery. Those books always made it seem so obvious who the culprit was, but when I read my own mysterious note it made no sense at all. The only people I could really think of who would want to meet me was either the Vampire who bit me or the beach hut man. Neither one knew I was attending Hogwarts though, but perhaps they knew anyway?

The first thing I thought of doing was telling Professor McGonagall or maybe Neville, but I didn't want to worry them with the fact that someone may or may not be stalking me or something. So the only thing I could do was not go at all. I was so curious to find out who the mystery person could be though, that I argued with myself for hours into the night until I decided that I was going to go. _Even if he or she does kill me,_ I thought bravely when I woke up on the 30th of September.

Classes ran through smoothly that morning. Defence Against the Dark Arts was just as exciting as usual. My first lesson we had learnt about Vampires, then on the second we went onto the subject of Werewolves (Professor Du Lac gave us a lecture on OWLs that lesson, which he said stood for Ordinary Wizarding Levels and was a bunch of exams on what we have learnt over the years), moving onto Veela's in the lesson afterwards, which took up two lessons. Leprechauns were next (this one took up three lessons as Du Lac went into an explanation of each and every performance of theirs he'd seen at the Quidditch matches with the Irish), and Hags were after that, Giants following on.

Potions was hilarious. Every time Professor Snape walked past me, I sat up straight on my stool and saluted to him. I found he liked to glare at me a lot, but then he likes to glare at everyone, doesn't he? I think he hates us all, but I know he _really_ hates me. On our second lesson he gave us an OWLs lecture just like Du Lac and on the very same lesson mine and Scorpius' potion blew up everywhere (it was my fault; I carelessly threw in a bunch of random stuff). The next couple of lessons were boring then, but on our sixth one James brought in a bunch of magical fireworks and set them off half way through the lesson. He blamed me (I wacked him with my wand for that and accidently turned his hair purple), but we both got detention anyway.

Transfiguration was just downright freaky. McGonagall was very stern and didn't like nonsense. Whilst everyone was turning desks into pigs, she set me to work on trying to turn a matchstick into a needle. I completed it in one try so McGonagall, seeing my obvious quick talent, told me to try turning my desk into a pig, which also worked in around three tries. McGonagall (and also a bunch of people who were also watching) was dumbstruck. She told me I was to take OWLs with everyone else, even though I had only just started the school, and also said I was too quick a learner to bother waiting until next year.

Charms was by far my favourite lesson, along with Potions of course. Professor Flitwick made me laugh (he squeaked and fell backwards of my seat after he read my name off the register), but it was almost as though he were scared of me or something. When he walked past me, he'd just squeak out a well done and hurry on by. I found I was very good at this lesson though, so I didn't care if Flitwick was scared of me, as long as continued being good at whatever I was doing in the lesson.

History of Magic was just boring. Professor Binns was a ghost and he didn't even notice when James, Fred, and a bunch of randomers (along with me) did the conga out of the classroom whilst the lesson was still going on. I just slept during that lesson, though sometimes I threw pieces of screwed up parchment at others because I was so bored. Binns couldn't even remember my name and kept calling me Miss Rosella. That name got on my nerves so I threw one of the parchment balls at him, but obviously it just went straight through his ghostly figure.

Herbology was hard work. One plant tried to strangle me on my first ever lesson, which was when I went into the wrong greenhouse. Neville said the plant was called Devils Snare and told me to avoid said greenhouse. I liked getting muddy and working with flowers, but the herbs and magical plants I wanted to avoid. I told Neville I was going to set all the greenhouses on fire after he said I'd get used to it when I told him I absolutely hate Herbology. It was a joke of course, but Neville took it seriously and almost gave me a detention for suggesting such a thing.

Care of Magical Creatures was fun. Professor Grubbly-Plank let us play with the nicer and safe animals, but when the more dangerous ones were out, she only let us go near them if she thought we were mature enough. She didn't find me at all mature and when she brought out the Hippogriff, she didn't let me ride it, but let Zach and Scorpius do so. I was really upset about that afterwards and nagged and complained to people a lot. It took at least a week until I forget about it all and went back to thinking Care of Magical Creatures was awesome.

The slightly less needed subjects weren't so bad. Divinations was rubbish though, but Astronomy was pretty interesting. I liked looking at the stars and plants, especially the moon. Every Wednesday at twenty minutes past midnight, we had to head up to the highest tower of Hogwarts for our lesson. I lost quite a bit of sleep because of the lesson and was very grouchy every Thursday morning. The Divinations professor was an absolute fraud. At beginning of the lesson, she'd predict at least on person's death, but nothing ever happened to said person. The only thing I liked about the lesson was that we were able to make things up to get good grades, and that I was very good at because I had a wild imagination.

After all classes were over and done with, we were aloud to have free time. We were all ordered to stay in our common rooms for said free time, which was lucky for me as I was able to stay up in my room during that time and start working on a plan to sneak out of the castle so I could meet the mystery person in the Forbidden Forest. The only thing I could come up with was to wait until everyone was asleep to leave, kick Mrs Norris, Filch the caretaker's cat if I saw her, and run away if any of the patrolling prefects or professors were coming or happened to see me.

Finally it was time to leave and I felt over excited, though also very nervous and kind of scared. I didn't change into my pyjamas, but instead stayed in the black skinny jeans, heeled boots, and corset top I had been wearing earlier that day, and then crawled into my bed, hoping the girls wouldn't notice anything odd, like the fact that I was wearing make up and my hair was brushed very neat and straight. When everyone was asleep, I crawled out of my bed and went over to my trunk, opening it up and pulling out a thin black zip-up jacket. I then snuck down to the stairs and left the common room, not noticing the dark figure that was lurking in the corner.

On my journey out of the castle I didn't see anyone at all, no prefects or professors, not even Mrs. Norris or Filch. I found this very odd but didn't worry about it. It would be easier getting out of the castle if I wasn't worrying my brains away. But it was easy enough anyway that even if I did worry I would get out of the castle with no trouble. When I reached the golden double doors that lead outside, I pulled them open with a hard tug and had to jump away quickly when they swung open and almost wacked me in the face. _I think I just discovered Vampire strength, _I laughed to myself.

As soon as I was outside and the doors were shut loosely behind me, I began to make my way towards the Forbidden Forest in a jog. I wanted to sprint as I loved to run, but I was scared that if I did so, I would discover Vampire speed, and that was something I didn't really want to do just yet, in case I got out of control and couldn't stop myself from running. I entered the forest after staring up at the tall, thick black trees for a second or two. I didn't want to linger for Hagrid the groundskeeper could see me from out of his brick huts many glass windows.

The forest was dark and silent. The only things you could hear were the rustling of leaves, the rare howl of a wolf, and sometimes a long hoot from the odd owl. Once or twice a twig snapped from behind me and I got the feeling that someone was following me, watching my every step. It was all very creepy and every couple of minutes I thought about going back, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. There was no turning back now I was doing this. I continued to walk, hoping I would find the mystery persons sooner rather than later.

_Snap. _I paused my walking. _Snap, thud._ I turned my head to the left. _Snap, snap, thud._ My mouth hung open slightly as my breathing came in slow, short gasps. _Snap, snap. _I was completely frozen in fear now. _Snap, thud, thud, thud, thud, snap, snap, thud. _I didn't know what to do. Should I run away or scream? Should I stay put and see if it was the mystery man? But what if it was some highly dangerous magical creature that wanted to eat me up as a very late dinner. My mind was panicking. _Thud, thud, thud, snap, thud, snap... _There was silence.

"Nemesis?" a voice gasped from behind me, a voice that I recognized. I turned on the spot.

Standing there was Davlon, mud smudged on his face and clothes, his hair messy and black with dirt, looking much unlike himself as he was usually very neat and tidy. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and slowly walked up to him, feeling safe now though also quite unsure. Davlon looked confused at my appearance and you could say the same for me.

A big black dog suddenly bounded out from the black and skidded to a halt in front of me, its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth, a mischievous and crazy look in its eyes. The dog's expression changed into a look of worry and also confusion, just like Davlon and I, and it backed away, heading towards Davlon who was still staring at me, now as though he wished I wasn't anywhere near him. I couldn't believe my eyes when the dog began to change, morphing through different sizes and shapes. A boy in same messy state as Davlon was suddenly standing there.

"Err, hey there?" he said nervously.

"Hi... I think." I was tilting my head to the side, an expression on my face that made me look as though I was trying to work something out. "How did you just do that?"

"I'm an uh, an Animagus," he answered quietly. I was more confused now. "I can change into a dog and Davlon can change into a leopard."

"Right, animal shape-shifters basically... I'm Nemesis Riddle by the way." I stuck my hand out for him to shake.

"Oh, um, Legion Black." He took my hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too. Say, you wouldn't mind teaching me to do that, would you?" I asked, smiling a little now.

Legion bit his lip and turned to look at Davlon. "Uh, well, I don't know..." He turned back to me now. "Maybe Davlon could..."

Davlon now angrily decided to interrupt our small conversation. "Nemesis, what the hell do you think you're doing here?" he loudly demanded to know.

I shrugged. "No reason really. But if there was one, it'd be none of your business."

"Then what were doing is none of your business, so run along and get back to the castle," he ordered. "Remember that I'm a prefect and I can take points from you."

"Go on then, because I'm not going anywhere. I have to do something here."

"Nemesis, I'm warning you..."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No! You can't make me!" I yelled out. "I have just enough rights to be here as you do. And besides, even prefects aren't aloud into the forest, so I guess you're just going to have to take points from yourself and head back to the castle, too. And if you don't do that, then I'm not going to either!"

Legion mumbled something that sounded like 'she's right, Dave' and Davlon glared at him. "Thanks for siding with me, Lee." Legion grimaced at the sound of his nickname as Davlon turned back around to glare at me. "Fine, stay. But I'm not holding myself responsible if you get hurt or go missing."

"Fine."

"Fine."

I watched as Davlon turned onto his heel and ran. I could still see him as he jumped over a log and morphed into a jaguar half way over. He landed gently on his feet and ran off into the darkness. The sight of him changing would have fascinated me, but I was too angry with him to bother being so. Legion, who was also watching Davlon disappear, turned to me and smiled nervously.

"Uh, sorry about him, he's a bit of a grouch," he muttered quietly, though I could still hear him speak.

"It's alright, so am I sometimes," I said with a small smirk.

"Okay, uh, see you later maybe."

"Yeah, bye."

Legion turned, changing into his Animagus, and followed Davlon's previous path. I watched him disappear from sight and then continued walking north – I still needed to find the mystery person and all I'd managed to find was two shape-shifting boys, one who was shy and quiet and other who I now seemed to be in an argument with. As I walked, I wondered what house Legion was in. I had never seen him around before, not in the Great Hall or just around in the corridors, not even in classes. I figured he just liked to be on his own a lot.

I was venturing deeper and deeper into the forest as every other second went by. The trees were beginning to press together and the branches were starting to snatch at my hair and scram my face. The floor was now covered in a misty fog and it was rising further up into the air. I couldn't see anything anymore as the fog had gotten so high that it was floating from the ground to up above my head. I still kept walking though. Every now and then I would pull out my wand to check if I was still going north by saying this really neat spell I found in one of my books.

There was high cackle all of a sudden. Like earlier, my body froze up. There was yet another cackle, crueller this time. Even though I was in a frozen state, I managed to place my hand on my wand, just in case I needed it. There was one more cackle before a high, whispery voice spoke.

"Nemesis Riddle..."

With a gasp, I spun around to face the direction the voice and been produced from. It sounded like a man. Was it the mystery person? Did I finally find him? I smirked in triumph, but it slid back off my face as the voice whispered my name once more. But what if it wasn't him? This voice sounded like it wanted to hurt me, but the mystery man promised he wouldn't.

"Who are you?" I called out into the misty darkness.

The voice was silent for a few minutes. "It seems you got my little message after all," he said finally, confirming that he was indeed the mystery man.

"Uh, yeah... Who _exactly _are you?" I asked again.

"An old friend."

I shivered. "An old friend? Well you can't be Charlie, he doesn't know about Hogwarts..." The voice didn't respond so I took advantage of the moment to think over who he could be. Then a sudden thought came to me. "Are you that Vampire?" I asked with a cautious step back.

"What Vampire?" I took that answer as a no.

"Never mind, not important... hm, an old friend..."

As I continued to think, there was a crunch behind me. Had I been facing the wrong direction the whole time and he was actually behind me? Did the crunch mean he was going to reveal himself to me? Unfortunately no, it didn't. A dog and a leopard bolted into the misty clearing. Obviously they were Davlon and Legion. I patted Legion's furry head as he sped past me, chasing Davlon.

"Davlon!" I shrieked as he jumped at me and knocked me to the ground.

I sat up, hands on the muddy ground behind me, and shook the sudden dizziness from my head. I was so going to get him back for that! I stood up and brushed off my trousers. The mist had cleared and light was peeking in through the trees above. I looked around for the mystery man, but they had gone. Angrily I stomped my foot and threw my hands up in the air, silently cursing both the sunlight and the two Animagus'. Now I wasn't going to know who the man was unless he contacted me again!

Something nuzzled against the back of my knee. I jumped slightly at the sudden contact and looked down. It was only Davlon. He gave his best leopards' grin and then changed back to boy-mode. Looking around his tall figure, I spotted Legion standing shyly in the background with a small smile on his face.

"Listen, Nemesis. I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier, I just didn't want you to get hurt or anything," Davlon apologised quietly.

"It's alright, _Dave_," I said, using Legion's nickname for him. _But it's not alright that you made the mystery man leave,_ I added to myself.

He grinned and slung his arm around my shoulder lazily. I thought suddenly of Charlie and shrugged his arm off. He just placed his arm back there. He reminded me a lot of Charlie and I couldn't help but feel sad that I probably wouldn't see Charlie for a long time. We both walked over to Legion as I forgot about my old best friend.

"I'm guessing you persuaded him to apologise to me?" I said to Legion.

He just nodded. Davlon glared at him. Legion grinned and shrugged. Davlon shrugged as well, then so did I, though I had no reason to. All three of us laughed a little, and then we began to sneakily make our way out of the forest and back towards the castle without any talking.

When we reached the Grand Staircase and had headed up only a few steps, Davlon departed from us with a wave of see you later as he was heading to the Ravenclaw Tower. I thought maybe Legion would go with him for I thought he was a Ravenclaw also, but he continued to follow me all the way up the Fat Lady's portrait, who asked us where we'd been, to which we didn't answer.

"You're a Gryffindor?" I asked Legion with crystal clear confusion.

"Yeah, I am," he replied.

"What year are you then? I never see you in classes," I said.

"Fifth, just like you. I prefer to just stay in the background without worrying about trouble," he admitted. "You know, like sitting at the back of the classroom and spending my free in the Forest with Davlon, running around like psychopathic maniacs that are high on drugs."

I laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like a perfect description for what you both do."

"Um, I was joking, just so you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Oh, right."

"Mhmm..."

We were both silent for a while until the Fat Lady got annoyed at us hanging around ("Are you going in or just hanging around?" she had said.) and we both gave the password at the exact same time. With a quick flash of a grin at him, I stepped through the portrait hole and entered the common room, Legion following my lead.

"I'm going to bed," he with a yawn. "I'm so tired all of a sudden."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

Legion nodded mutely and left my presence, heading back up to his dormitory. I stood rooted to the spot for a few minutes before also deciding I was going to go to bed. But then I stopped as the sound of footsteps came from over by the portrait hole. Someone appeared and I gasped at what the person spoke of.

"You've made some weird friends here, Nemesis," said James.


	10. All Too Real Dream

_Authors Note:__ Hey, you guys; a belated Merry Christmas and a belated Happy New Year to you all! I hope you got all you wanted for Christmas, and if you did anything for both holidays, I hope you had lots of fun! I know I did! Anyway, in other news; it wasn't for the fact that I'm writing another fan fiction on a different account, then this chapter would have been out a lot sooner than expected. This is one of the reasons why I shut down Things Better Left Unsaid. I don't really think this is one of the best pieces of writing that I've ever written and it is rather random, but it does the job and gives you another chapter, right? I really hope you like it though, because I actually worked on it for a while._

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Ten: An All Too Real Dream.**

Getting up that morning was really difficult for three reasons, and they happened to be: One, I didn't want to go to classes, especially Divination. Two, I didn't want to see the sunlight and hear the overly annoyed chirping of the birds outside. And three, I really didn't want to see James Potter again.

The night before was disastrous. After declaring that I have wierd friends, James marched up to me and demanded that I tell him who I was meeting with out in the forest. Because I wouldn't tell him, he rested with thinking it was a whole army of Vampires here to take over Hogwarts, and then he asked me if I was an Animagus like Legion and Davlon. Once I answered no, he went to ask me another question, but I just quickly ran up the stairs to my dormitory. I'm not very happy with him at the moment, as I'm sure you can see.

Now it was time for breakfast, then it would be first lesson, which happened to be Divinations. We were currently learning about Astronomy, more commonly known as zodiac signs, and I really, really didn't want to go because I didn't do my homework. Not that I care about homework or anything because I don't. Another reason for not wanting to go is because James and I sit on the same table.

Maybe I'll just ditch...

A pillow was smacked down onto my head three times by Roxanne as she yelled to hurry. Decided enough was enough, I threw the pillow across the room with a long and low growl, and then slowly got up from my messy bed like a zombie coming from its grave for the first time is a billion years. At first, Roxanne looked at me with a shocked expression, but then she started grinning and bobbing up and down.

"We've got divinations this morning!" she sang happily.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yes, I know, you reminded me like, a hundred times yesterday."

For a second she looked offended, but then skipped out of the room with a cheery wave and a 'see you later'. I rolled my eyes again and started getting ready for the day. For some odd reason, Roxanne had a huge thing for Divinations and practically adored the teacher, Professor Trelawney. I thought the professor was an old fraud who got a little less batty over the years from what I heard about her from all my classmates. I also thought the subject Divinations was just phony baloney and had no use what-so-ever.

An hour later we entered the classroom through the trapdoor in the ceiling. The room around us was furnished with old tables, clothes, and chairs, it was so dusty that it made me feel like there was absolutely no air in the room, and it was also covered top to bottom in maroon and grey, and the curtains were also drawn over the windows so there was no light shining brightly into the classroom that had this horrible wet dog smell.

"Good morning, class," Professor Trelawney greeted mystically as she started to slowly hand out overturned sheets of parchment. "Today we will be studying the zodiac signs." She motioned for us all to sit down and quieten as she spoke. "Now, as you all should know by now, there are twelve zodiac signs, and they are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. Each sign falls under an element of either water, fire, air, or earth. Everyone has a zodiac sign and they are determined by your date of birth."

Pausing for a little bit, Trelawney grabbed a water bottle off her desk and took a small sip of water. Placing the bottle down on her desk gently, she turned to the class and began once more. "Now let's start with the Aries sign," she continued, hearing some groans but waving them aside. "For those who were born on or between March 21 - April 19, you are an Aries. The characteristics of an Aries are..." Trelawney paused as she gave a small wave of her wand, having the following words appear on the board.

"Adventurous, courageous, enthusiastic, confident, and quick-witted," she read out. "These are all rather good points to a person's character. Now there has to be some weaknesses. The weaknesses of the Aries personality are..." Once again she waved her wand as more words appeared right besides the others. "Short-tempered, self-involved, impulsive, and impatient."

I noticed that some of the student's dropped their mouth open for a moment as if Professor Trelawney had hit a nail into their head.

Trelawney continued. "Usually these characteristics on both ends are quite right, but of course they can't always be perfect," she said, moving behind her desk. "Now onto the sign of the Taurus. If you were born on or between April 20 - May 20, then you are a Taurus. A Taurus is usually..." She began waving her wand as two sets of words appeared on the board.

Taurus Strengths.  
_- Dependable.  
- Persistent.  
- Loyal.  
- Patient.  
- Generous._

Taurus Weaknesses.  
_- Stubborn.  
- Laziness.  
- Possessive.  
- Materialistic.  
- Self-indulging._

"...very dependable, persistent, loyal, patient, and generous. Though they are also known to be rather stubborn, lazy, possessive, materialistic, and self-indulging," Trelawney said as she looked around the classroom. I did the same, looking around. Everyone seemed to be rather bored. "Why don't we just do this for the rest of the period," Trelawney muttered moodily, noticing how no one was really paying attention, as the writing on the board disappeared and new writing came in its place.

I immediately dropped my gaze down to the Libra section.

Libra: September 23 - October 22.  
Libra Strengths.  
_- Diplomatic.  
- Romantic.  
- Peaceful.  
- Idealistic.  
- Hospitable._

Libra Weaknesses.  
_- Superficial.  
- Vain.  
- Indecisive.  
- Unreliable._

To be honest, I was offended. There was no way I was vain, I never cared how I look, and me being unreliable? Hmph! And I wasn't romantic at all! I found that to be cheesy, actually, and _peaceful_? I like fighting, thank you very much! Arguments are fun. If I win, that is. I turned to glare at Trelawney, even though it's not like _she_ made up our personalities, but she was the only person I could think to blame. Besides, wasn't she the one who wanted to teach us all about Astronomy? What an old bat.

"I am so not vain!" I grumbled to myself.

Suddenly spotting a mirror on the wall behind me, I turned slightly in my chair and ran my fingers through my dark hair with a dazzling smile.

"Yeah, I can see that, Dizzy," came James voice.

Turning around angrily, I glared at him. The girls had given me the nickname "Dizzy" for two reasons; one, there is an "is" at the end of my first name, and two, this morning when the boys saw me coming down the stairs, they grabbed my arms and started spinning me around so much that I became dizzy and fell on my ass. I was never going to live it down.

"Alright, _Jammy Dodgers_, what's your Zodiac sign then?" I asked, a smirk spreading across my lips as I used my nickname for him, the one he really didn't like.

"I was born July 13th, so I would be a..." He looked to the board.

I also turned to look at the board. "A Cancer, James. You're loving, intuitive, cautious, and protective; those are your strengths. Your weaknesses are; changeable, moody, over-emotional, and clingy." Smirking, I glanced back at him, noticing he looked rather moody, like his zodiac said he would be. "Aw, are you going to cry, Jamsey?" I taunted.

"Shut up, Nemesis," he grumbled, running his left hand through his very messy auburn hair. "At least I'm not vain, like you."

Angrily, I reached over to the table and shoved him with my hand. "I think you're the one who should shut up. In case you haven't noticed, I'm more like an Aries anyway; adventurous, courageous, enthusiastic, confident, and quick-witted."

"Yeah, and selfish, quick-tempered, impulsive, and impatient."

"You're just jealous."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I am _not!_"

"You are _sooo_ in denial!"

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and turned around to see Scorpius, who gave a roll of his stony blue eyes. "Can't you guys just be quiet? You're all I can hear and it's annoying me." He turned to James. "James, you're just jealous Nemesis is more like a boy, and Nemesis..." He turned back to me. "You're just jealous James is more like a girl."

Scorpius turned back around before I could say a witty and also furious comment. Looking back at James, I noticed he was also angry with the Slytherin, and as our eyes connected for a moment, I immediately knew we were going to be planning payback later.

Divinations ended rather quickly that lesson. Trelawney didn't mind that I _forgot _to do my homework; she told me she saw it happening through her inner eye. I just scoffed unbelievingly and left as quickly as my feet could take me. I was seriously suffocating in that damned stuffy classroom, not that Vampires can suffocate or anything. They don't even have to breathe, for Gods sake!

Our next class was History of Magic, the worst subject Hogwarts could ever teach. And when I say teach, I don't mean that they actually teach us anything. Our professor is a ghost called Cuthbert Binns, who apparently has been teaching History of Magic for over eighty years, which is of course, a very, very long time. I wondered, being a Vampire and all, whether I would stay alive for that long, or maybe even longer than that.

As I sat down in my usual spot in the classroom, James came to sit by me, his gorgeous emerald green eyes sparkling maliciously— wait, hold up, did I just say what I thought I just said? James Potter's eyes are definitely _not _gorgeous, and nor is he! Hmph, I hope I made that clear! And so as he pulled out his chair, I smirked evilly up at him. Since the class was so boring and we'd probably fall asleep in the process of listening to Professor Binns drowning voice, there was enough time to come up with a wonderful prank to pull on Scorpius.

Once the lesson started, Binns reading out from his notes and text books, James pulled out an eagle-feathered quill and a piece of parchment from his bag. Pretending that we both were taking notes on the same parchment, we bent out heads over the olden-times paper and started scribbling away, whispering excitedly in hushed voices.

Sometime during the lesson, I managed to fall asleep.

_I was walking through a maze, a large maze with mist covering the ground at ankle-height. I had just gotten past a Sphinx, who'd given me a very easy riddle, one which I did not remember, but I knew the answer had been 'Greece'. Right now though, I was more concentrated on getting to the middle of the maze and grabbing that bloody cup that had caused us all so much trouble. _

_Suddenly, there was a strong, frozen gust of wind, one that knocked me right off my feet. I fell hard on my arm, a snapping sound echoing through the maze. It didn't hurt, why would I? I was a Vampire, able to do whatever I pleased, whenever I pleased. I was practically made of metal, but that didn't mean I still couldn't break._

_Picking myself up, cradling my broken arm against my chest, I continued on through the tall green maze, not finding any blockages, dead ends, or tasks as I did so, and soon enough, I finally found the blasted cup, lying on a tree stump in the middle of the maze. I was relieved and quickly ran over to it, though stopping suddenly when there was a flash, and all of a sudden, a man with the same appearance of a snake appeared, red eyes gleaming and thin white mouth stretched into a cruel smile. _

A foot made sharp contact with my ribs, and with a loud gasp, I opened my eyes, only to find myself laying on the stone cold floor, my forehead drenched with sweat, the breathing I did not need to use fast and ragged, no heart beating for I did not need one, with everyone staring at me, even Professor Binns who never noticed anything. What in the name of Merlin just happened?


	11. Revenge

**Authors Note:**_ Right, I thought I'd warn you and say that I've __**changed the rating of the story from T to M.**__ (Those words there are in bold, so if any of you are those type of people who miss out on Authors Notes and just get on with a story, these words will catch your eyes and tell you that __**you must read this Authors Note**__.) The rating has been changed because I've decided that, for one in my life, I am actually going to make a fan fiction with sexual intimacy. And let it be known that __**there isn't actually any sexual intimacy in this chapter.**_

_Just in case any one of you readers is a young person who is not comfortable with anything involving sexual intimacy, or at least cringe at the idea of it, I will be placing a warning at the top of each and every chapter that has anything of the sort in it, so you will know if it is one of those chapters. And also, just in case you are one of those people, after one of those chapters, I will leave an Authors Note that will tell you what happened in the previous chapter with little detail about only the important matters. _

_Thank you for reading this, it was __**very important! **__Now that you have been warned, you may now read on. _

**Review Replies:**

_Thedeathchandelier:__ You've reviewed for every one of my chapters. It's official; I love you! ;D_

_Coolkat:__ Snape is in the story because I made it so he didn't die; someone managed to save him back in the Shrieking Shack. :) Besides, that's why they call it a fan fiction; you don't have to get your facts straight. You can do whatever the hell you want with the story and laugh your heads off about it in later life, thinking "what the hell was I thinking?" :P_

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Eleven: Revenge.**

The rest of the first term went by without hardly any incidents. Legion and Devon had been teaching me how to become an Animagus. It was really hard work, but I was managing. I only had a couple of months left until I was able to turn. The boys had been debating during the time, wondering what type of animal I'd become. Devon said a monkey, Legion said a panther.

Not only that, but I'd also found a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. I'd kicked James out of his spot and taken his place as seeker. He was now a chaser instead. At first he was furious and refused to talk to me, but he quickly got over it after finding that he had a certain magnificent skill for catching a maroon ball and throwing it through a golden hoop.

Right now though, James and I were setting up a most excellent prank, one which was to be pulled on our dear friend Scorpius.

For the past month we had been working on a special potion, a very complicated one that allows the drinker to assume the form of someone else; it was the Polyjuice Potion. Every night James and I would sneak out of the Gryffindor common room and down to the Second Floor, where we would brew it in the middle of the abandoned girl's bathroom where I'd met Dominique.

At the moment it was the early morning and we were in that exact same bathroom, waiting for it to finish strewing. We'd been waiting for it to finish for twenty one days, twenty one _long_ and _aggravating _days. When it was finally done, we started dancing around the bathroom, but stopped soon after when we realised that if we waited any longer, the potion would be ruined.

"Don't worry, Nemesis," James reassured me after I voiced my worries to him; _"what if we haven't done it right?" _and _"what if Scorpius doesn't drink it and all of our hard work has been put to waste?" _James had just rolled his eyes and continued pouring the potion into a small, glass vial. "With our genius, it will be perfect, and so worth the wait."

I couldn't help the grin that came to my face as my worries immediately left me and I nodded in silent agreement. Of course everything would go as smooth as silk. James and I were after all, the top of our year when it came to Potions, and also when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts, might I add.

"Yeah, you're right, James," I said with confidence. "We're not top in Potions for nothing."

"Too true," agreed James, now standing with the vial balancing expertly on his flat hand, which was held in front of his shocking green eyes as he peered through the vial at the gruesome, thick muddy liquid that bubbled slightly. "Doesn't look so nice, does it? I feel sorry for Scorpius; he's going to be drinking this stuff, you know."

With a vengeful glint in my black eyes, my grin turned to a cruel smirk. "Well I won't be feeling sorry for him. It is revenge after all."

My on and off best friend shrugged. "I guess your right." Stowing the vial inside his robe pocket, he looked to the cauldron of still bubbling Polyjuice Potion then to me with a wondering look that told me he was actually confused. "Erm, Nemesis... what are we going to do with the rest of it?"

"And they told me you were bright," I huffed. "We're going to vial it and keep it in case we need it for another time."

"Good idea," he mumbled, irritated because of the insult.

James went back to sitting on his knees as he began to stow the rest of the potion in more of the little vials I'd brought along. Whilst I watched him work, I leaned against the block of sinks that stood in the heart of the room and twirled a strand of blue hair around my finger. It was a habit of mine; I did it a lot when I was either bored or tired.

My eyes suddenly had a mind of their own and I found myself checking the boy out. It was true what people said; he really was gorgeous. His tousled red-brown hair gave him this rugged, bad boy look, and his body made this statement truer. He was tall and muscled, with broad shoulders and a toned complexion. The thing I loved best about him was his electric green eyes.

In all honesty, his body was nothing compared to his personality. He was cheeky, sneaky, and mischievous, though on the inside I knew in a way, he was a troubled teenager, sick of always being compared to his younger brother Albus. James had told me about how his parents always wondered why he couldn't be more like Albus, more studious and obedient. I felt sorry for him.

A light pink blush spread across my pale cheeks when he caught me staring at him with a lustful eye. I couldn't help but feel these emotions that I'd never felt before; admiration, passion, and lust. From that moment on, I knew I had a crush on James Sirius Potter, the irritating but dashing ladies man and prankster of Hogwarts. This was _bad_.

"Like what you see?" he teased, smirking, his eyes shining brilliantly.

"Depends on what I'm looking at; an insufferable, big-headed buffoon or the wall behind him?" I retorted angrily, with folded arms.

Chuckling lightly, James lifted himself from the stone ground and walked towards me, stopping when he was stood directly in front of me, staring down at me with those breath-taking eyes that I just couldn't get enough of seeing. He lifted one rough hand to my delicate chin and gently raised my head so black eyes met green. My breath caught in my throat.

"Or perhaps you are looking at a dashing and most brilliant young wizard with enough brains to conquer the entire world by himself?"

"Or perhaps that is what _you_ are looking at?" I corrected. "Most jealous people see others as themselves, you know."

James's eyes betrayed the fact that he was impressed with her quick-witted comebacks, and I felt oddly proud of myself for impressing one of the cleverest and might I add, sexiest young wizards who learnt within the walls of Hogwarts. Usually I'd push it aside, but now that I had a crush on the gorgeous git, I wasn't about to do anything of the sort as I gazed into his beautiful eyes.

"Maybe you are right," he mumbled finally before catching my curved, plump lips with his own thin but delicious ones.

Resisting the urge to start jumping for joy, I circled my arms around my neck and pulled him closer, kissing him back with as much force as he was giving into the kiss. He vaguely tasted of strawberries and sugar... maybe he'd previously been eating them? His tongue immediately asked for entrance and I granted it gladly, my tongue fighting for dominance with his own.

After a few minutes of mindless making out, I finally pulled away and leaned my back against the mirror above the sink that I was currently perched upon. I tried to catch my breath but only a second or two later, I was pulled back into James embrace and another good old snog followed.

This time the kiss was less demanding and more passionate. He gave everything into our second kiss and pulled me tight against him, so tight that I had to wrap my legs around his waist so my breasts were pushed up against his hard chest. I could even feel his arousal pressing against my thigh as I moaned inaudibly into his mouth.

James was first to pull out of the kiss, but quickly resumed his job when he started kissing across my jaw line and up to my ear, where he nibbled on my earlobe, and then started kissing down my neck, licking, sucking, and nipping all my sensitive spots. Whilst he was doing this, I left my right hand wander freely up his shirt and let my fingers run lightly across his six pack.

As he continued with his work, he began to slowly undo the red and gold tie around my neck. It quickly came undone and he then started undoing the buttons on my crisp white school shirt. The shirt fell from my shoulders as I removed my hand from his abs and pulled my arms out of my shirt; the only clothing my torso now wore was a black bra.

I suddenly ground my body against his as I got to work on unbuttoning his own shirt, but just as I finished undoing the final button, a loud shriek was suddenly heard from the direction of the door. James jumped away from me, alarmed, as I hurriedly pulled my shirt back and buttoned it back up with a speed that would've shocked even the most powerful of wizards.

Standing at the door to the abandoned bathroom was Dominique, her hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes wide with disgust. Her hand dropped suddenly to her side as she took a slow, cautious step back towards the door, her hand grasping hold of the handle hard; it looked as though she was about to make a runner and tell everyone what she'd witnessed.

"J-James? N-Nemesis?" she stuttered slowly as if trying to comprehend the situation.

I looked from James to Dominique, biting my lip. There was nothing but silence... Err, awkward! Throwing James a look that said "we'll talk later" and "see you in the hall" in one facial expression, I slowly exited the room. As I passed Dominique, I couldn't help but notice her throw me a disgusted look. I was out of there though, before any words could leave her lips.

As I began my long walk towards the Great Hall, I thought about what had just happened, as I stared confused, down at my feet.

Why did James kiss me? Was it because he fancied me, or was it just a heat of the moment thing? I heard from a few of the slags that arguments can turn boys on easily. Maybe he was one of those guys? More importantly, why did I kiss him back? I remembered thinking I had a crush on him, but that's just impossible. I mean, _come on_, it's _James Potter_ we're talking about here!

Soon I was sitting at the Gryffindor table, with all my friends surrounding me, excluding Zachary, Davlon, and Scorpius. Peaches was sitting opposite me, Legion was on my right (he'd come out of the shadows for once, though just to watch the show), James on my left, and Fred next to Peaches. Frank was sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Dominique, who kept shooting me dirty looks.

"You all right over there, Dizzy?" James's voice pulled me from my thoughts with a start.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just thinking."

"What about?" Peaches asked. "You were miles away, and you didn't look too happy."

I smiled ruefully at her. "Sorry. Just thinking about Malfoy. Waiting for our revenge to unfold," I lied; I'd actually been thinking about the, err, more-than-a-kiss between James and I.

James grinned at me, while Peaches expression switched between amusement and indignation.

"Well," Legion piped up hesitantly. "I can't deny that Malfoy is insufferable—"

"He's a git, Black; just say it!" Peaches interrupted, with a smirk.

"Fine," Legion amended, folding his arms across his chest. "Malfoy is an insufferable _git_."

I sighed. "He is _not_ an insufferable git," I said. "He just needs to be taught a lesson, a lesson that says not to mess with Nemesis Riddle."

"Oh, yeah, because you are _so_ big and bad, aren't you, Dizzy?" James laughed playfully.

"Pfft, of course! I am after all, the—"

My sentence broke off at the sound of a strangled yell coming from the Slytherin table. Looking round, I quickly located its source: Scorpius was half-standing, his hands braced against the table in front of him and his goblet overturned on the floor. He shuddered and for a moment it looked like he was going to retch. Then his hair started getting longer and greasier. His stature grew a couple of inches, his small nose suddenly was long, and his eyes turned a dark shade of black. The Great Hall fell into complete silence.

The moment the transformation was complete, a brown barn owl swooped in through the window and dropped a small hand-held mirror and a scrap of parchment onto the table in front of Scorpius. He scowled as he stared into the mirror for a long moment, squinting in disbelief at his reflection. He made a good Severus Snape...

Looking from Scorpius up to the teachers table, I quickly found Snape. He was scowling as well. I looked back to Scorpius, then back to Snape, to Scorpius again, and back, and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth. Scorpius _really _made a good Severus Snape. I couldn't help the laugh that erupted from my lips, and soon I had my head in my arms, trying to stifle the laughter.

After reading the note, Scorpius looked over at me with a glare that could kill. "Nemesis," he whispered angrily.

The Great Hall was still so silent that his voice carried all the way to the end of the Gryffindor table where my friends and I sat. I braced myself for the explosion that was sure to come any second now, whether it be from Snape or Scorpius. It was Snape who exploded. He stormed away from the staff table, heading directly for me, with Neville hot on his heels. I stood up to meet them, an angelic smile on my face as I tried to not laugh. I managed to see Scorpius run out of the hall from embarrassment before Snape blocked my view.

"You'll be expelled for this, Riddle," Snape hissed. "I'll see to that myself." I once again, had to fight the urge to laugh.

"Empty threats, Professor," I replied coolly. "Empty threats."

"That was Polyjuice Potion, Riddle," said Snape, lowering his voice so only I could hear. "There is no one else in this entire school that comes to my office every morning. You are the only student I occasionally speak with privately." It was true of course, but that wasn't proof that I'd done it.

"Yes," I said unconcernedly. "It would certainly be difficult for someone to snatch a stray hair off of your robes, wouldn't it?"

"Professor Snape," Neville said quietly, laying a hand on Snape's shoulder. "There is no proof that Miss Riddle was involved, and you are making a scene. If you do happen to find any actual proof, please take it to the Headmistress; otherwise, stop this now!"

Snape and I glared at each other for a long moment, similar black eyes keeping hold of each others angry gaze, determined not to lose the glaring contest, before Snape stormed out of the Hall, his black robes billowing behind him. As soon as the large doors leading into the Entrance Hall slammed shut, the entire student body exploded in conversation.

"That was brilliant!" James exclaimed, high-fiving me as soon I had sat down.

"What, you were involved too, James?" Peaches said accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me? I'd have loved to help."

"I can't believe you would do something like that, James," a new voice huffed.

I turned to see a young girl with shockingly bright red hair and glittering green eyes standing behind James.

"Erm, you are?" I inquired, raising my eyebrow at her.

The girl glared at me. "I'm Lily Potter," she said snootily.

James rolled his eyes. "My overdramatic little sister who can't keep her nose out of everybody's business."

"I have a right to be!" Lily shrieked; she was going to make a scene in a minute. "James, you know what mum said. If you get in trouble one more time, she's grounding you for life!"

"Ah, but my dear Lilykins," Fred began with a smirk. "There's no proof that Jamie or Nemmy did anything."

I bit my lip. "Well, actually..." Everyone turned to me with wide eyes.

"You didn't..."

"You wouldn't..."

"You left proof?"

Pulling out my wand, I flicked it. "_Accio note_." A small piece of parchment flew from the Slytherin table and into my outstretched hand. "There _was _proof. This is what I've been planning all along. I'd send Scorpius a note, telling him that we did it, and he'd tell Snape he has proof. He'll go looking for the note, but he'll make a fool out of himself because he won't be able to find it."

Suddenly arms wrapped around my waist and James pulled me into a hug. "You're brilliant, Nemesis!"

I let him hug me for a moment, but soon pried his arms away from my waist. "Yeah, I know." I grinned as a comfortable silence came over the group, which Lily soon broke.

"This is _bad_, James!" she hissed. "Despite having no proof, Professor Snape still blames you! He could get you expelled, he—"

"Actually, he only blames Nemesis," Legion interrupted quietly. He was still as shy as ever...

"But—"

"No, Lily, just... just no," said Peaches, with a shake of her head.

Lily huffed angrily and spun around on her heel. She stomped off angrily back to her little group of friends that all looked to be second years.

I turned to James. "You were right, Jamie; it was totally worth it." And with that, we all resumed eating.


	12. Sweet Sixteenth

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Twelve: Sweet Sixteenth.**

The morning of the eighteenth of October, I awoke with a wide yawn and a large stretch of the arms. It didn't take long before I realised it was my sixteen birthday, and I jumped out of my overly comfortable, four-poster bed, with ninja-cat like reflexes. It was my sweet sixteenth today, so nothing would be able to ruin the good mood I was about to succumb to.

"It's my birthday!" I screeched at the top of my voice, with a very high-pitched note added into my normally smooth and silky voice.

Peaches groaned automatically and rolled from her back onto her front, hiding her face in her fluffy white pillows, whilst Roxanne squealed delightfully, kicked back her duvet, did a kick-up from lying on her bed to standing on her feet, and engulfed me in a bone-crushing, teddy-bear hug as soon as she had bounded all the way over to me. I just groaned irritably.

"Happy sixteenth, Nemmy!" she giggled happily, as let go of me and began dancing about here and there, getting a start on dressing for the day.

Her choice of wardrobe made me wonder about how sane the girl really was – she'd decided to wear a cropped sky blue sports-bra, funky multi-coloured leggings with a black shawl wrapped around her waist, and little white gyms on her feet that had black lace-ups. Roxanne had also gone so far as to wear a matching multi-coloured bandana around her head, her long blond locks framing her face from the tightness.

I watched amused as she got ready, and laughed impishly when she fell to the maple wooden floor once tripping over a stray school bag that had previously been resting by the heated coal fireplace in the middle of the circular room, but was now laying flat down on the floor, with study books, pieces of parchment, and eagle-feathered quills scattered all over the floor. I stopped laughing however, when I realised that it was my orange duffle bag and instead groaned with annoyance. I_ sooo_ did not want to do any sort of cleaning on my birthday.

"Ugh, great. First thing every person wants to do on their sixteenth; clean," I complained, placing my hands on my hips in a huffing way, with a sour demeanour that could beat Professor Snape's any day.

Roxanne smiled apologetically at me. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll clean it up for you now."

"No, it doesn't matter," I sighed, my arms dropping limply back to my sides. "I can do it. It is my stuff after all."

"Nemesis... Whoever does the crime does the time." There was a hint of warning her floaty voice. "You go have a shower whilst I tidy this up. And you! Get your lazy bottom up before the nargles smack it."

A hard pillow was whacked down on Peaches' head and a muffled 'ow' and a mumble of some intelligible words were heard. I snickered devilishly as I crept away into the bathroom with a lop-sided grin on my facial features, planning to take a _lonnngg_ bubble bath whilst avoiding the fight that was surely about to roar up. Peaches' was _not _a morning person, that's for sure.

Once taking the longest bubble bath in the history of bubble baths, I came back into the dormitory in a silky black robe that had an emblem of a green snake wrapped around a silver stitching of my name (it had been a present from Charlie for my thirteenth – his parents had left him some money when they'd died, so he was able to afford it) to find that both of my best friends were in the middle of a serious glaring contest. I knew that Roxanne was sure to win, since she was more wide awake than Peaches, and plus, had way better concentration.

Looking from one to the other, I noted how Roxanne was all rearing to go and Peaches was just pulling a string of indie beads over her head. To go along with that, she was wearing short denim dungarees, with a puffy tee-shirt that had a big pair of lips decorating it in red sparkles, and black, strappy stilettos that made Peaches' look three inches taller than her average size. In her ears were big, plastic brown hoops, and on her left wrist were a couple of wooden bangles. I loved how Peaches was always so indie, whilst Roxanne was _mostly_ always so hip-hop.

"I know you guys probably don't want to leave me all alone on my birthday and all," I began as I started rummaging around in my trunk. "But if you want, you guys can head on down the Great Hall for breakfast without me. I can meet you down there in ten. It's no problem, really. It's not like I don't know where everything is."

"You'd be okay with that, would you?" Peaches asked, and I nodded. "Great! Let's go, Roxy. I'm starving, and we're just standing here like lemons." She sped out the door.

Roxanne gave me an unsure look, but after a warning glare, reluctantly followed the hungry lunatic we just so happen to have a name for. With a smirk of satisfaction, I finally found some clothes that were look super slammin' on me now that I was _almost_ an adult, though not until after I had styled my hair into bouncing black curls that were charmed to stay in place, looking beautifully sleek and shiny as always, and also had a light layer of make up on my face; the usual facial stuff, though this time with black mascara, thick purple eyeliner, and red wine-coloured—and flavoured—lipstick.

I decked myself out in blood red skinny jeans with rips at the knees and lower thighs, and a fitted white shirt that had a few of the top buttons undone, with a British-racing green tie that hung loosely around my neck, tucked neatly under the shirt collar at the top, along with red and black checked converses that had tiny little people jumping up and down on them as if they were rocking out at a rock concert.

Picking Kazan up and wrapping him around my neck like he was a scarf, I exited the fifth year girl's dormitory and made my way down the spiral staircase into the Gryffindor common room. There was a crowd hanging around by the study desks, and after recognizing James, Fred, and Frank amongst them, I wandered over quietly so as to not alert them to my presence.

"What's happening, you guys?" I piped up suddenly, having been watching them for a couple of seconds beforehand.

The group jumped at my abrupt appearance, and I cackled evilly to myself.

"Ohemgee, Dizzy. Happy birthday!" James said girlishly, wrapping his arms around my waist and spinning me around in the air.

As soon as I was back on my feet, I paused. Had James just said, "Ohemgee?" I stifled a giggle and hugged him back, then went on to hug Frank and Fred, who squeezed me so tight I thought I was surely going to burst at any second. They both chorused their happy birthday to me and handed me a small parcel each, which I guessed were two of my birthday presents.

"Ooh, presents! Thanks, you two," I thanked, and reached up to ruffle Fred's hair, who whined like a three years old and ran off to find a mirror so he could flatten it back down.

I rolled my eyes and went onto ripping open the presents. I tore open Frank's first to find a beautiful silver, goblin-wrought necklace with the words, "to a sister" on the front and the words, "from another mister" carved on the back in swirly gold letters. A gasp left my lips as I held it up to the light, then Frank, carefully avoiding Kazan with his hands, took it off me and placed it around my neck.

"It's beautiful, Frank," I cooed, conjuring up a mirror with my wand and admiring it from many different angles.

"You're welcome, Nemesis," he replied, with a smile.

With one last flick of the wand, the mirror vanished into thin air and I put my wand back into my back pocket. Fred came running back just in time for me to tear open the brown packaging of his soft, rectangular gift. Inside was a burgundy journal with a white and gold butterfly clip secured to the leather fabric in the top right-hand corner.

"It's charmed so that if anyone, besides you, picks it up, their fingers will be instantly burned black," Fred informed me.

"Charming." I smirked.

"Don't worry, it may sting like the devil himself," he began reassuringly. "But the pain subsides when the intruder puts the journal down and the blackness disappears within a couple of hours."

I made an 'O' shape with my mouth and nodded once to tell him I understood, and I then gave him his equal share of hugs. I turned to James with folded arms and I stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to give me my birthday present from him. He flashed me a cheeky smile and a gift bag popped into existence, floating in front of my face like an annoying, buzzing wasp. I took it, but continued to stare at James.

"You going to open it or what, Diz?" he grumbled impatiently, though a big grin still stuck to his face.

I flashed Fred an unsure look, who shook his hands and head 'no', with a dramatically alarmed expression. I giggled girlishly before opening the purple gift bag that was _covered_ in small shapes that I recognized as black and pink hearts, to find a beautiful pair of hooped earrings with sparkling diamonds incrusted all around the outside of the silver. I gaped at them; they must have been _so_ expensive.

"They give you compliments," James explained.

"Really?" I paused. "..." And looked up from the earrings to James. "They must have been super expensive, James. Thank you oh so much."

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I snuggled up to him closely, nestling my head in the crane of his neck, as he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tight against him. I flushed pink, although no one would ever see me flushing due to the paleness of my vampire white skin, and pulled away to kiss him on the cheek.

Fred and Frank both flashed me a grin and started nudging each other in the ribs. I rolled my eyes, but still couldn't help the smile that came along. The two boys that seemed to be suddenly getting along so well left the room with a meaningful glance from James, which I happened to have noticed. Arms still around his neck, I peered up at him curiously.

"What's with the looks?" I wondered uncertainly.

He pried my arms away from his neck, holding my hands in his in-between our bodies, and stared me in the eyes seriously.

"Can we talk?" he asked, with a sincere tone.

"We are talking," I joked.

He smirked, though it quickly faded. "No, I mean... I mean about— _us_."

"Ooh..." I bit my lip nervously. "What about us?"

"I haven't gotten the chance to talk to about it this past month," he began slowly. "But, I was wondering about what happened the morning we— you know... kissed."

Sighing, I let my hands drop from his as I stared at my converse. "I don't know what happened there, James. I think it was just a—a heat of the moment type of thing."

"But there was no heat and there was no moment..."

I choked. I was sure there had been a moment, and I was sure there had been heat. Hadn't there? I was unsure now. So instead, I looked back up and stared intently into James' beautiful green eyes that seemed to be sparkling with something I didn't quite understand. Was it... love? Did James have a—a crush on me or something?

"J-James... do you— have a crush on me?" I said it quickly, cheeks flaming a faint red from embarrassment.

He stuttered for a second, unsure of what to say, before he finally nodded and said; "yes, yes I do."

For some reason, I felt as if my heart suddenly grew a pair of angel wings and flew off into the cold, winter horizon, filled with snowy mountains and crispy, bare trees. A graceful smile lit up my pretty features as I realised that I _must_ like James, too, if I felt like that all of a sudden. There was no other conclusion but that. I really did like James Sirius Potter.

"I like you, too, James," I admitted to him, a fresh wave of embarrassment overcoming me.

He grinned happily and pulled me into another loving hug, which I gladly accepted. The hug didn't last long though, because instead he pulled back, swooped down, and captured my lips instead. We spent a couple of minutes clinging to each other and snogging the life out of each other before we finally parted and he rested his forehead on mine, staring into my eyes once again.

"So, Miss Riddle, does this mean we are an official couple now?"

"I believe it does, Mr Potter, I do believe it does."

We grinned at each other for a second, and then finally decided it was just about the right time to head down to meet our friends.

James and I entered the Great Hall for breakfast with our hands entwined together. Everyone was eating, but everything suddenly stopped as all the students turned to us with a gasp coming from each and every one of their lips. It only took a minute for the whispering, gossiping, giggling, and chatting to start up again, and James and I became the new subject of the entire school. How_ fantastic_.

Looking at me, James made a funny face and rolled his eyes, and I giggled again. I was extremely gigglish today, I had noticed. Hands still linked, we walked together over to the Gryffindor table where our friends sat, and the lot of them stared at us with their mouths agape – although Peaches sat with her eyes sparkling mischievously. She gave me a knowing look; I just smirked.

The gang made space for us both to squeeze in, and instead of asking questions about us, such as 'are you going out' and 'have you kissed yet' and such other preposterous things, the whole gang (Legion, Frank, Fred, Peaches, Scorpius—who had decided to sit with us instead of the Slytherins—, and Dominique—who still didn't seem to happy with me, even thought the bathroom incident was a whole month past) struck up a completely different subject that got us all laughing and chatting immediately as if nothing new was happening.

Now all I had to do was wait until the evening when James was to escort me to my birthday party – my very own Masquerade Ball.


	13. They Care

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Thirteen: So They Do Care.**

The party had been absolutely wild. Nobody recognized me, even though it was my masquerade birthday party, as I livened it up on the dance floor.

On my face I wore a beautiful Venetian mask, which was styled as a traditional colombina eye mask but with the addition of lightweight Filigree metal that was encrusted with crystals, and my dress was a playfully sexy black cocktail dress of iridescent taffeta, with classy pleating featured on the front side of the strapless bodice, and flouncy skirting that began slightly below the hip and fell to the knee, that also had a cute and sassy bow is the accent that brought the bodice and skirting together for a flair of innocence.

I looked beautiful and nobody knew it was me. My mood was dampened when I realised this, but I brightened immediately when I thought about how many people had taken up their precious time to go. This was a sign that there were lots of people who liked me in the castle, but then I thought that maybe they only went for the party.

Scorpius reassured me that everyone liked me extremely when I told him my thoughts during a Potions lesson one day. I was about to ask him how he would know when Professor Snape snapped at us to get back to work. I glowered at him but did as I was told, spending the rest of the lesson concentrating on my work.

After the lesson ended, Scorpius and I separated. He had a free period, so he went back to the Slytherin common room, agreeing to meet up with me later that day. I went straight to my favourite lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts, with James, Fred, and Peaches, and all the Hufflepuffs—I love Hufflepuffs; they're so... gullible.

The Defense lesson passed by as smooth as silk. I beat James up a couple of times, though I reckon that's only because he didn't want to hurt me. If we weren't going out, he would so kick my arse. We swapped partners halfway through the lesson. James partnered with Charlie Grey, and I partnered off with the professor.

"Ready to get blown to smithereens, _Professor_?" I laughed, as Professor Du Lac and I circled each other.

"Are you, _Riddle_?" he retorted, smirking, wand in hand.

I laughed again; it was so easy to joke around with him. "I never lose."

"Nor do I."

And then our duel started. Du Lac shot the first spell, firing an Impediment Charm at him. He blocked it with Protego, and immediately shot the Tickling Charm at me, which I easily blocked. We continued to pass and block spells for a minute or two, but then it started to get serious as I cast Confringo at him. He flew backwards into the wall, and I was about to go see if he was okay, he slowly got back to his feet.

"Flagella Ignis."

I gasped as a large whip of flame was suddenly spun around the two of us in the middle of the classroom, blocking all the students from view. They could not see us, we could not see them, but I knew they had all stopped duelling as the sudden circle of flame shot out of Du Lac's wand. Then out of the blue, they all started shouting, panicking.

"It's alright, students," Du Lac called to them all. "It's just a duel. Nothing serious."

_Yeah, because that is sooo reassuring for Hufflepuffs,_ I thought, with a roll of my eyes. Du Lac must've read my mind or something because as soon as I thought that, he looked over at me and laughed. Instead of fretting over it though, I shot a spell at him.

"Volostupefy," I screamed – the fire was making hideous hissing noises now, so I could barely hear myself think.

Lots of tiny little blasts of light shot out from my wand like a Stupefy cut into many little Stupefy's. In fact, that's exactly what the spell did. Du Lac had a little trouble blocking them all, but he did block some of them. Seeing that he was in an unconscious state of stupidity, I fired another spell at him.

"Incarcerous," I yelled happily.

Ropes hurled from my wand over to Du Lac. They wrapped around him and trapped him, capturing him, as soon as he recovered from my previous spell. With a growl that surprised me, the ropes were sliced in half as he used a spell I couldn't quite make out, though I knew I definitely wanted to learn that spell ASAP.

"Silencio," he shot at me, flicking his wand with elegance.

I ducked the spell and he fired it again, and again, and again. I continued to duck and roll around the floor, dodging the spell with all the gymnastic movements I could think of. I cart wheeled to avoid the last one. He then cast Rictusempra at me. It hit me and I fell into a fit of laughter.

"Finite," I giggled through hysterics, ending the spell immediately.

"Silencio," Du Lac yelled again.

I side flipped away from the spell, and he shot it once more. This time it hit me and I was silent, glaring daggers at my Defense teacher.

"Sorry, little missy," he laughed. "But I did say I never lose."

With a silent hiss, I threw my wand aside and got into a crouching position, ready to attack. He smirked and also dropped his wand, flexing his fingers as he awaited my attack. I bared my fangs at him in a grin. He knew what was coming and he was just going to go along with it. I liked that about him.

And so I ran.

I sprang at him, catching his shoulder in my hands and pushing him to the floor. I straddled him quickly, but he rolled my over, pinning me. I used all my strength to kick him in the stomach with the only part of me that was free; my legs. He flew backwards and landed with a dull thud. I ran at him again.

Finding my wand lying next to him, he fired Petrificus Totalus at me. Betrayed by my own wand, I fell next to him, landing on my side. I heard it snap and screamed in pain. It seemed the Silencing Charm had ended and I was free to say whatever the hell I wanted, so I let out a colourful string of curse words.

"Fuck, shit, crap," I hissed through my teeth.

The fire around us faded away to reveal to all of the cowering Hufflepuffs and cheering Gryffindors Professor Du Lac kneeling over me as I clutched my arm to my chest, both of our wands forgotten. The students let out gasps of shock and rushed over to see if I was okay.

_So they do care after all,_ was my final thought before I slipped into unconsciousness.


	14. Dirty Doings With The Wrong Boy

_Authors Note:__ Okay, I promised you that whenever some sexual interaction came up, aka: sex, that I was to warn you, and so I'm telling you young people now; this chapter involves sex at the end. For those people who wish to skip out this chapter, I'll tell you what happens without detail in an author's note at the beginning of the next chapter so you don't miss anything out._

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Fourteen: Dirty Doings With The Wrong Boy.**

Professor Du Lac carried me straight to the Hospital Wing after the duel-gone-wrong in class. Of course first he had to dismiss the class and then shoo the crowding onlookers away, but then there were no more obstacles as he picked me up bridal style and walked fast to Madame Pomfrey, who started fussing over me the minute she saw my broken arm.

The sexy metamorphmagus placed me in one of the Hospital Wing beds as Madame Pomfrey came hurrying over in all a flutter. She started complaining how students always came out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class injured and this must've been the third one that day. I almost laughed and wondered if Du Lac duelled all of his students.

Madame Pomfrey made me drink a few potions that tasted so vile that I almost spewed some of them back up. But thankfully I digested them without a complaint and asked for a Blood-Replenishing Potion. Not understanding why I needed one, since only Dumbledore and Snape knew, she went and fetched one. I drank it in one glug, but it didn't have much effect now that I knew that I was a full vampire.

Sighing with half satisfaction, I leaned back against the pillows. Madame Pomfrey said I had to stay in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the night while the Skele-Gro potion did its job and grew back my bones. I had no problem staying the night, I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up in the morning in hopefully a good mood. But then just as I was about to drop off, Madame Pomfrey announced that I some visitors.

With a nod that told her I was okay to see them, Madame Pomfrey went to the big golden doors and opened them, telling my visitors that they could come in. The motherly nurse walked away briskly back to her office as James, Fred, and Peaches poured into the Hospital Wing. Scorpius came in after them, running over to me as fast as he could. I was glad that my three Gryffindor friends had thought to fetch him.

When Scorpius reached me, he jumped on the bed and pulled me up into a bone crushing hug. I pushed him back, complaining that I didn't need any more broken bones. He quickly apologised like a good, proper pureblood and climbed off the bed. I laughed at him for being such a stick in the mud and he glared teasingly at me.

"I am not a stick in the mud," he _hmmphed_, folding his arms across his lean chest like a spoilt little child.

I couldn't help but ogle at his upper body as he crossed his arms. Instead of wearing his school robes, he was wearing a tight black crew shirt that clung to his torso and made him look well ripped. Dirty thoughts of massaging my hands against his abs. I shook them away quickly, though still adopted a sexy smile.

"No, you're not," I whispered seductively, pulling him down by the neck of his shirt. "You're much more than that."

James was glaring at me, I noticed, but I ignored him. He was being silly. I was only teasing Scorpius... sort of. And Scorpius seemed to like it, I thought as I watched a corner of his lips turn up into a smirk. I laughed then, and slapped Scorpius across his half-showing biceps with my free hand.

"You're a smart-arse fucker," I wisecracked, beaming like a Cheshire cat.

Scorpius glared at me again as I snickered. He then smiled and detached my hand from his t-shirt. He stood back up straight, scuffed up my hair, and walked away so James could come see me.

"An idiot, such an idiot," James murmured to me as he sat next to me on the bed and hugged me gently.

He pulled back and stared into my eyes like it was some sort of miracle I was alive.

"The next time you duel someone in the middle of a ring of fire, I'm going to break your arm myself," he told me seriously.

I knew he wasn't being serious about breaking my arm though, because he would never do that. If he didn't have the guts to fight back when I duelled him, he wouldn't have the guts to break me. This got me wondering how I broke my arm. If I was a vampire, why did it break? It was probably because I didn't expect such a thing to happen.

"Wait, she _WHAT_?" shrieked Peaches, horrified.

"Well, you see, she was duelling Professor Du Lac and he created a ring of fire around them," Fred informed my overly dramatic best friend. "And then when the ring of fire disappeared, we found Dizzy here lying on the floor with a broken arm and Professor Du Lac kneeling over her."

Scorpius' cool grey eyes turned angry. "I'll kill him," he hissed. "I'm going to kill him."

He stood to leave the Hospital Wing, but I called his name to make him stop. He turned and stared with a raised eyebrow.

"He didn't do it, he didn't break my arm," I protested. "He cast a Full Body-Bind at me and I fell sideways onto it."

My Slytherin best friend calmed down instantly. "Oh, urm... well, you could have just said that in the first place," he muttered, a pink tinge to his pale cheeks.

I couldn't help but think that he looked ten times sexier when he blushed. I beckoned him over (he practically ran over) and ruffled his hair like he did to mine—which I'd smoothed out now. I eyed him up and down again when he shot James a smug look. He looked absolutely delicious, like he'd just gotten some fucking good sex. I almost drooled at the thought.

"You're so silly," I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Err, thanks?" he said unsurely, raising his eyebrow again, making him look even sexier, if that was possible.

I shook these thoughts away. I shouldn't be thinking about Scorpius when I was going out with James, and said boyfriend was sitting right next to me, holding my hand. I looked down at our entwined hands and then up into James' eyes. He smiled adoringly at me, the smile reaching his vivid green eyes.

Whilst Scorpius had this bad boy attitude and these looks that could kill, James had a way of making a girl feel special as he stared at her with those amazing eyes of his. I almost drowned in them, but was pulled back out at the sound of the door banging open. I jumped and turned to see Roxanne rushing in.

"Oh my God, Nemesis!" she cried, scrambling over to squeeze me hard as she hugged me.

"Uhh, Rox..." I coughed. "Can't... breathe... here."

She pulled back. "Oh, sorry. Anyway. I just heard," she said. "Peaches and I were studying in the library; Du Lac had given us a pass, as I'm sure you remember. And I went to search for a book and when I came back, Peaches was gone. I asked Madame Pince where she'd gone and she told me she'd ran off with four boys. So I went back to studying, worried actually, and a passing Hufflepuff told me what'd happened."

"Interesting story, Roxy," Fred teased, poking his sister's shoulder.

She glared at him. "Oh, shut up, Fred," she snapped, and turned back to me. "Anyway. I ran straight here without stopping. I didn't even stop when that cute Ravenclaw, Felix Boot, called me. I just ran right past him and ignored him." She groaned. "Oh God, how he must despise me now." She stared sadly at her hands, which were folded in her lap.

I patted her back. "Don't worry, Roxy, he won't despise you. If you just explain, he'll understand," I reassured her, sporting a comforting smile.

"Oh, I'm such a bad friend," she said just out of the blue. "Here's me babbling on about my problems and you're sitting there with a broken arm!"

"It's alright, I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me," I told her, with a shake of the head. "You go off and explain to this Felix Boot guy, okay? And don't come back until you two have a date."

Roxanne laughed at me. "Oh, alright. But I'd hate to leave you here alone..."

"What are we, invisible ducks?" yelled Fred childishly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, you are, actually," I joked. "No, I'm joking. Now piss off, Roxy, and make love to your prince charming."

My absolutely insane best friend blushed red. "Don't tease me so," she mumbled under her breath. "Okay, I'm going now then. Bye, everyone."

We all chorused our byes as Roxanne hugged me again. She left quickly, sprinting out of the room at full speed. I rolled my eyes.

"Mmmm, I think I'd like to go to sleep now, please," I yawned, pressing a hand over my mouth.

"We'll leave you alone then," James said, and kissed me on the cheek, and then stood up.

The thoughts of Scorpius sitting naked on my bed were still in my head so I grabbed him like I'd grabbed Scorpius earlier and pulled him back to my side, pressing my lips to his. He groaned and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. I whimpered as my bad arm got caught in-between our bodies. James pulled back, smiling apologetically.

"Shit, sorry," he murmured, and then pecked me on the lips as a final kiss. "I'll come by later, okay? That is, if you're awake. I wouldn't want to wake you."

I nodded, grateful. "Okay, thanks."

Peaches, Roxanne, Fred, and James got up to leave, but Scorpius didn't move an inch. When I looked into his eyes, I saw fury there. I wondered why he was angry. Fred and Peaches shared a look that only I noticed before leaving with Roxanne, but James stayed, eyeing him the Slytherin. Scorpius told him that he just had to tell me something. Still suspicious, James left, very slowly.

When the doors had finally closed behind him, Scorpius turned to me and just stared. I stared back at him. His gaze gave me a once over and then suddenly he darted forward. I gasped as he straddled over me on his knees without actually touching me. My eyes were wide as he leant down and captured my lips with his own.

The kiss at first was slow and sensual. I didn't kiss back, knowing that it was so very wrong, but then he got passionate, kissing me hard, and I just had to respond. I moaned as he licked my lower lip with his tongue and I allowed him entrance. Our tongues met and began a slow dance. It was so wrong but it felt so right.

Everything got ten times more passionate then. Scorpius broke the kiss to pull back the quilt that was covering me and push it to the end of the bed with his feet. He looked down at me with lust in his silvery eyes, and that's when I noticed that my skirt was hitched up around my waist, revealing my plain black knickers. I blushed lightly.

Scorpius' eyes flashed and he bent down to kiss each of my cheeks, and then he caught my lips with his once more. From slow to passionate and then back to slow, it once more turned passionate as I hastened to undo the leather belt holding up Scorpius' trousers. I briefly thought I shouldn't be doing this, but then my mind completely shut down as the belt came free.

The black jeans and the white underwear Scorpius was wearing joined the belt on the floor and so did my knickers. Before I could get a good look at his member, Scorpius had already placed it at the opening between my spread legs. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as he pushed in, slowly but swiftly. He broke through my barrier and I would've screamed if he had not placed his hand over my mouth.

He waited a few minutes for me to adjust to this new feeling before he started moving. He pulled out so only his tip was inside of me and then slammed right back in, hitting my G-spot. I moaned with pleasure and pulled him down for a searing kiss. He did the same thing two more times before he turned the slow sex into a fast, hot, and sweaty one.

His hand kept over my mouth because I was moaning so much, and I knew he was biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from groaning. We didn't want to alert Madame Pomfrey that sat in her office only a little away, and I silently thanked God that there were no other patients in the Hospital Wing.

Suddenly, without warning, I came with another moan, and Scorpius followed a second later. He collapsed next to me, slipping his arm around my waist and pulling me into him. I rested my head in the crook of his neck, my breathing fast and uneven. I didn't feel guilty as a laid with him after the best sex of my life. But then a thought struck me.

I'd just lost my virginity to Scorpius Malfoy, ex enemy and current best friend of my boyfriend.

I bolted upright as I let this very current fact set in. I sat in shock, almost as if I were stunned. I didn't know what to say or what to do. I felt very awkward now, also feeling sad that it wasn't James and irritated that I'd had the very first sex of my life in a Hospital Wing with my clothes on, and not in a special place at a special time. But on the other hand, it was some fucking good sex with a deliciously hot guy.

Turning to look at Scorpius, I found that he was staring at me with both content and puzzlement.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he tried to pull me back down.

I refused to lay back down, glaring at the Slytherin.

"What's wrong?" he repeated, now wearing a frown.

"I can't believe what I just did, that's all," I lied easily, turning away from him.

"And...? What else is it? You're not telling me the whole truth, I can tell. I can always tell with you."

I swore mentally. For a boy I'd only known a few months, he knew me too well.

"I was just thinking that I am the most disloyal girlfriend that ever lived," I told him, truthfully this time.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I... I just couldn't control myself."

Scorpius bit his lip, making him look sexier. I didn't even think he could look sexier than he did right now, laying there with his bottom half naked and his hair spiked up all over the place. But apart from looking sexy, he also looked really guilty. I sighed and lay back with him, hugging the arm that wasn't broken around his waist.

"It's okay," I lied.

He knew that I was lying, like he always knew, but he didn't say anything. He just pretended that I was telling the truth.

"I'll... I'll just tell James. He'll probably break it off with me, but—"

"No!" Scorpius protested, sitting up with his gaze set on my face. "No, don't do that. I don't want you to be unhappy, and you guys have only been together a short while. I don't want to be the one to ruin your relationship, not when you guys are so perfect together."

I stared up at him. "I can't lie to him, Scorpion."

Scorpius glared at me for the use of the nickname I'd given him the day he and James had become friends, but I just grinned cheekily at him, though it quickly disappeared. I wasn't in the mood for being cheeky or teasing or mischievous or silly. I could only think of what James would say when he found out, and this made me depressed.

"Just don't tell him, please," he begged. "He'll hate me and he'll break up with you. I don't want that, Nemesis."

I sighed, defeated. "Alright, fine, I won't tell him," I promised. "We're just lucky I'm so good at keeping secrets."

Scorpius nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, thank Merlin... Well, I better go because someone walks in here."

He leant down to kiss me, but I moved my head away. I couldn't kiss him. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn't cheat on James anymore than I already had. I was already the worst girlfriend in the world, and I didn't want to further this horrid but secret reputation. Disappointed, Scorpius got up and got dressed, and then turned to me and handed me my knickers, which I slipped on.

Being the real gentleman he was, he pulled the quilt back over my body, tucking me in. He kissed me on the forehead like any good friend would do and left without a goodbye. And as soon as he walked out those big, golden doors, I wanted him back in the bed with me. I groaned at the thought and turned over on my front.

Soon enough, I fell asleep. My dreams as I slept were filled with quick, rough sex against an abandoned corridor wall of Hogwarts with Scorpius. I tried to force myself awake but I couldn't, so I waited until the dream ended with James walking into the corridor and woke up. I called for Madame Pomfrey, who came hurrying out, and demanded a Dreamless Sleep potion.

I did not want to have those dreams again.


	15. Searching For Blood

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Fifteen: Searching For Blood.**

For the next week I avoided Scorpius and he avoided me. After what had happened in the Hospital Wing, neither of us had the guts to meet up, scared that if we saw James, we'd stumble over our words, making us suspicious, and ending both Scorpius and I in deep shit because one of us would have blurted out the truth eventually. Of course, that wasn't the only reason; it would just be too damn embarrassing!

So for the whole of the next week, Scorpius and I were seen nowhere together. This resulted in many stuck-up-their-own-arse Gryffindors asking where my precious Slytherin had gotten too. I'd just reply wittingly—or not so wittingly now that I think about it—that he was not _my_ Slytherin and it was quite frankly none of their beeswax.

Unfortunately, this made me very moody. I would always snap at my best friends for no reason whatsoever and they would back away, with their hands held up in front of them in surrender. I would then role my eyes and walk away. For the whole of the week they asked if I was okay—Fred even had the nerve to ask if I was only my period—and I would answer that I was perfectly fine.

Just a few minutes ago, I had angrily walked away from James. One minute we'd been snogging in a broomstick closet and the next he was undoing my shirt. For some reason unbeknownst to me, this made me very annoyed and I shoved him away, stomping from the broomstick closet in anger. He didn't even follow me.

Currently I was heading down to the Professor Snape's office. I needed to get a Calming Draught from him because my anger just wasn't going away.

I knocked on the door to the office and waited impatiently for Snape to call out that I could enter. But instead, Snape came to the door and opened it himself. Giving my angry expression a once over, he opened the door further and allowed me to enter. I stormed right past him, my lips in a tight line and my eyes glaring at thin air, my eyebrows knitted closely.

Uninvited, I dropped into a chair in front of Snape's desk, folding my arms across my chest, like a spoilt child who hadn't gotten what they wanted for Christmas.

"What is the problem, Miss Riddle?" Snape asked, appearing at the side of me suddenly.

I looked up at him, staring into his bottomless black eyes. They were quite beautiful... in a really freaky sort of way. I snapped back to attention and glared harder.

"Everything," I said, turning to stare at the desk.

Snape walked over to the other side of the desk and sat down in his black leather chair, leaning back into it comfortably, his hands folded together on his lap.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked, his expression softening.

"I don't want to talk about it," I mumbled, leaning back into the chair.

My favourite professor moved forward and rested his hands on the table, peering at me with both curiosity and concern, though his look quickly disappeared as soon as it had came. I wondered why he seemed so concerned. Was it because I was his best student or was it because I generally talked to him about things during the times I came for my potion?

Oh, I forgot to tell you.

During my visits to Snape's office, we'd become sort of... friends. We'd gotten to know each other a little bit and I found that I could trust him, so I told him how I'd been getting these really weird notes from a mysterious guy in the woods. He didn't seem too concerned about that, as if he knew about it already. That confused me.

"Talking about it makes you feel better," he said softly.

I looked up at him. "It also brings it all into reality," I retorted.

He leaned back into his chair, smirking. "That is also true." And then he leaned forward again. "But it is also always advised that you tell a professor what's been bothering you."

I glared hard at him, and then gave up. "Oh, fine, I'll tell you," I muttered angrily.

Snape raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for me to continue. I let out an irritated sigh, and then rolled my eyes.

"I kind of... did something bad," I mumbled.

Once again, he was smirking. "Of course you did," he said.

I glared. "Are you going to shut up so I can tell you?"

Snape gave a lone nodded and then leaned back into his chair, waiting for me to continue.

A blush came to my cheeks as I tuned my voice to a whisper.

"I kind of... ."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

I glared at him again. "I said: I. Fucked. Scorpius. In. The. Hospital. Wing."

Snape blinked slowly as if comprehending what I just told him, and then he was smirking again.

"And does the Potter boy know about this?" he asked, black eyes gleaming.

"Don't be stupid," I snapped. "Of course not."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a teacher, Miss Riddle."

"Ugh, you're impossible."

I stood quickly from my chair and stormed over to the door, but then I realised that I hadn't gotten what I needed. I turned back to him.

"Can I have a Calming Drought?" I asked quickly, anxious to leave.

"What's the magic word?" Snape teased, smirking at me again.

"Avada Kedavra," I mumbled, glaring.

Snape's lips curled upwards as if he was going to smile, but then before I could see if he did, he turned around and went into his private stores. He came back out almost instantly with a potion in his hand. He handed it to me, and I uncorked it and took a decent glug from it, and then offered it back to him.

"Keep it," he said. "You may need it in the future."

I growled at him and then stormed from the room. All I heard before I slammed the office door shut was a quiet snicker. I rolled my eyes, took another sip from the Calming Drought, and then left the corridor. I decided it was time for a visit to the Forbidden Forest, since I was hungry and getting sick of Blood-Replenishing potions.

When I entered the Forbidden Forest for the second time since the year started, I stared into the dark gaps in-between the trees as I walked further and further inwards towards the old clearing I'd found myself in last time, looking for a decent meal on my way. I was also hoping to find the mystery guy again, though I kind of doubting that I would.

A branch snapped suddenly.

I jumped at the sound and spun around.

Standing there was Professor Du Lac, his hair a dark shade of brown and his eyes bright purple. I grinned broadly at him. He smiled back and came forwards to stand in front me.

"What are you doing here, Miss Riddle?" he asked, staring down at me.

I stared back up at him. "Looking for a decent meal," I said simply.

Du Lac knew that I was a vampire. Since he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, McGonagall thought it wise to tell him because she thought that sooner or later he notice how much I was like a vampire and would then confront me about it. I was glad that he wasn't scared of me or anything. That would be terrible because I found Du Lac to be a fabulous person and friend.

"I see," he said. "And have you found anything decent yet?"

I shook my head no.

"Oh well," he sighed. "You'll find something eventually."

I nodded, smiling again. "Yes, I hope so."

Suddenly there was a strong scent of blood in the air. I closed my eyes and sniffed the air. It was coming from Du Lac. I opened my eyes again and looked at his hand, only to find that it was bleeding a hell of a lot. I shot him a look that told he should leave quickly or I might just possible attack him, but he stayed as still as ever.

"You can have some if you want. I don't mind," he said suggestively, and winked at me.

I raised an eyebrow, and then looked back at the blood. I licked my lower lip as I looked back up at him.

"You sure?" I asked, biting my lip now.

"Positive."

He then raised his hand up, offering it to me. I took hold of his hand and then hesitantly brought it to my mouth. I took one slow lick at the blood, and after tasting how delicious it was, I clamped my hand around the wound and sucked hard. I didn't know if I was being out of control or not. All I knew was that the blood tasted so good.

I raised my eyes up to watch Du Lac and noticed his face was looking tired and pale. I then looked him up and down and found he was shaking. I took my mouth away from his hand quickly and stepped backwards a few steps, dropping his hand in the process.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. "I didn't mean to take so much."

Du Lac gave me a weak smile. "It's alright, I'm fine," he reassured me.

I was feeling much more fulfilled now, so I thought it best to go back, but then Du Lac stopped me.

"Why don't we continue walking?" he suggested, with a kind smile.

I nodded in agreement and followed him deep into the forest. We reached the clearing to find it was deserted.

Suddenly, I was grabbed around the waist and pulled into Du Lac. I shrieked silently as he put a golden object around our necks and began to spin a little dial. As he turned the dial, he held his hand over my mouth to stop my screaming and held me tightly against him. Before we were whisked away into oblivion, I swore I heard him mutter an apology.

We fell from the sky suddenly and landed in the exact same clearing with a thud. Except this time it wasn't deserted. In the clearing now stood a whole group of men or woman dressed in identical black robes and silvery masks that were all different from another. They were all in a tight circle around us, stopping me from making any kind of escape.

As I was pulled to my feet harshly by Du Lac, another man entered. Or at least, I thought he was a man. His skin was deathly white and he had red, gleaming eyes, quite like a cats, and instead of a normal nose, he had two slits. He reminded me a lot of a snake, and I couldn't help but shudder as I stared at him.


	16. The Proposal

**Authors Note:** _Alright, people, here it is. The chapter you've all been waiting for, the chapter where she meets the man who sent her the letters! Oh, yeah, and by the way, I'm sorry I didn't get this chapter up quickly enough for your liking. My life at home has been a bit... bizarre and hectic this last month. I'm sure none of you really care about that though, and would like to get on to reading, so go ahead._

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Sixteen: The Proposal.**

The snake-like man's words struck me like an electric shock. Daughter? There was no way I was his daughter! After all, the owner of the orphanage had told me that my parents had been murdered in a thievery at the local Tesco's grocery store in London because they'd gotten in the way of the shop-thieves, and that then afterwards my old nanny brought me to them.

_I am an orphan... aren't I?_ I thought, biting my lip, and I wondered about whether or not the people at the orphanage had lied to me about my parents.

Raising my eyebrow at the man in both confusion and in question, I eyed him up and down to take in more of his frightening appearance. His eyes were a glowing blood red, marred with hatred and power, and in a way, they were almost cat-like. There was no hair upon his ghostly white head, though I had a strange feeling that he'd previously had thick, smooth and dark brown hair when he was a teenager. The strangest of his features though, I thought, was that he had no nose, just two slits, like a snake's nose, and his lips were set in a thin line, almost invisible to sight.

The man with the inhuman features stepped forward a few more steps until he was standing right in front of me, towering over my small frame. He stood tall at at least six foot or more, and he looked very thin, very thin indeed, like he hadn't eaten any food in weeks, or months even! His fingers were long and spidery; fingers that would be perfect for people who played the piano. I briefly found myself wondering if he played the mentioned musical instrument, but all thought was lost when he reached up and stroked his cold fingers against my warm cheek.

The smirk fell from the man's lips and he spun around to face my kidnapper, who had retreated into the circle of black cloaked and silver masked people, all who seemed to be followers of some sort to this man with such a powerful and demanding presence. He strode towards Du Lac, if that was even his real name, and the other people in the circle who stood near them cowered in fear.

"Well done, Crouch," said the snake-man, "you will be rewarded greatly for the succession of your task."

"Thank you, master," my kidnapper said, with a slight jerk of the head.

I turned to look towards the man and glared angrily at him. So his name was Crouch, not Du Lac! I imagined myself running at him with a knife and slicing his head clean from his shoulders. Back in reality though, I just stood there, infuriated at the fact that a man I found that I trusted had lied to me. I began to worry about what the black gang in masks needed me for.

The big bad man that everyone was scared of turned swiftly and came back over to me. He raised his pale hand to my face again, hooking a finger under my chin, and he tilted my head backwards so he could get a better look at me. His red eyes darted from left to right, up and down, as he took in my features.

"My father's dead," I said finally, after a few seconds of silence and observing. "He and my mother died in a store robbery when I was younger, and my old nanny put me in an orphanage."

There was a deadly silence as a flicker of anger shone in the man's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Yes," he said. "I expect that is what the auror's forced the orphanage to believe."

I waited patiently for him to explain, but when he didn't, I politely asked him to elaborate.

"When the auror's heard," he said, "that the Dark Lord, the most powerful wizard known to wizard kind, had had a daughter, a child, they of course couldn't allow the risk of bringing her up in a world full of magic and possibilities. The orphanage," he growled the word, "was the only safe option to stop any form of Lord Voldemort from rising to power like he himself had."

My whole body froze and my eyes grew wide as my mouth fell agape from bewilderment. I knew who Lord Voldemort was; I'd read about him in the Harry Potter biography I owned. He was the archenemy of James' father, but only because Harry had been destined to kill Voldemort, which he succeeded in doing, might I add, and he also tried to take over the world by making an alliance with all sorts of magical creatures and magical folk. He was also the one responsible for the death of many people and the end of family lines, such as the Lupin's and the Black's.

"Y-your Lord V-voldemort?" I stammered, still in shock.

"I am," he answered, the corners of his thin mouth twitching up into a smirk.

"And the daughter...?" I asked.

"Is you," he said, with simplicity.

Right then and there I could have—should have—fainted, but I did not; I was not going to give him the satisfaction of showing him that I was a weakling, for I was not a weakling and I shall never, ever be one. I was Nemesis Riddle, extraordinaire, and Nemesis Riddle did not show any sign of weakness. At least, not in front of people she barely knew.

"Then who is my mother?" I asked.

I looked around, expecting to see her somewhere, for her to pop out of nowhere and embrace me in a hug, telling me that she was sorry and that she loved me so very much. But instead there was a cackle from someone in the circle. I looked to my right to see one of the cloaked figures pulling off its mask; the holder was a tall, beautiful woman with long, thick, shining black hair. She had thin lips, dark, heavy-lidded eyes, and a strong jaw, though she also had a gaunt and skull-like face. I'd seen her picture in my book and I remembered her name and history well.

"Bellatrix Lestrange... is my mother?" I whispered, horrified. "Oh Hades, _help me!"_

The mad woman grinned maniacally and nodded, and then she cackled again.

"I thought Voldemort didn't know how to love," I muttered to myself, frowning confused, at the ground.

A low hissing sound suddenly came from the Dark Lord and my head snapped up to stare at him.

"_I don't love Bella_," he said in Parselmouth.

"_Then why'd you have sex with her?_" I asked, also speaking in the language of snakes.

"_She was willing,_" he answered, and smirked.

"_Better not tell her that,_" I said, smirking, too. "_It looks like she's obsessively in love with you._"

"_Yes, I have noticed,_" he said.

Realising that I was having a rather friendly and, might I add, normal conversation with an evil man who had destroyed families and terrified the whole world out of their wits, I changed my stature and jumped away from him and into my fighting position, crouching my knees and spreading my arms. Voldemort raised his eyebrow. I briefly wondered if whether or not he knew that my blood was tainted.

"What do you want with me?" I hissed, suddenly all alert.

"How about we go to a..." Voldemort searched for a word, "warmer location to converse?"

I stood straight, though still alert, and nodded. He came over to me again and offered his arm, which I hesitantly took. Before I could register what was going to happen, he yelled something to the cloaked figures, which I now realised were Death Eaters, and then suddenly everything disappeared and all went black.

During the procession of the apparition, I felt like I was being pressed very hard in every direction that I knew of; like iron bars were tightening around my chest, my eyeballs being forced back into my head, and my ears being pushed deeper into my skull. I could not breathe; I could not see; and the only thing I could feel was Voldemort's arm.

And then everything was back to normal, and we were standing in the middle of a drawing room. The walls were purple, the carpets white, and a large, glittering chandelier hung from the middle of the roof. The furniture was all ornate, and there was a marble fireplace, and a number of moving portraits around the room, along with one or two gilt mirrors. Everything was so sumptuously decorated that I couldn't help but stare around in amazement at the beauty. I mostly stared at the chandelier though; because I remembered that in the biography it had once come crashing to the floor.

When I lowered my eyes from the ceiling they rested on a boy with blonde hair, a narrow face, and icy blue eyes – Scorpius? My jaw metaphorically hit the floor. Had they sent Scorpius back in time as well? No, I doubt it. What would they need Scorpius for? I blushed, hoping it wasn't him. I'd been avoiding him all week and I did _not_ need, nor want, to see him right now.

"Scorpius, what are you doing here?" I asked, frowning at him.

He came over to stand in front of me and offered me his hand, smirking.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else," he said airily. "My name is Draco Malfoy, not Scorpius."

I blushed, feeling stupid for mistaking him for Scorpius. _Perhaps he's Scorpius' brother?_ I thought, and then shook my head. Scorpius had never told me that he had a brother. So maybe a cousin? Perhaps. Now that I thought on it, where were we exactly, and more importantly, how come Voldemort was alive? He'd died in 1998... hadn't he? This was all probably just a prank the guys had set up.

"Nice to meet you, Draco," I said, playing along with his act, and I shook his hand.

Another man came forward who looked just like Scorpius, only older. He threw me a charming smile and bowed his head, and he then took my hand.

"Lucius Malfoy," he said, and kissed it lightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

I brought my hand back to my side slowly as I took in Lucius' appearance. He was tall, with the same narrow face, blonde hair, and blue eyes, except his hair was long and straight, ending just beneath his shoulders, and his eyes were slightly more piercing, like they were staring straight through to your soul.

I remembered Scorpius telling me once about his family. Astoria was his mother, Draco was his father, Narcissa was his grandmother, and Lucius was his grandfather. So if this was all a prank, did that mean Scorpius was pretending to be Draco, and Draco was pretending to be Lucius? Hmm, that must mean they're trying to make me think I'd gone back in time!

"I'm sure it is," I said sarcastically, frowning again.

Lucius chuckled. "A most excellent daughter you have here, my Lord."

I raised an eyebrow at the supposed Dark Lord. So, who'd transfigured themselves to look like him? Harry Potter? Hmm, probably not; the Malfoy's and the Potter's weren't friendly. I couldn't think of anyone else out of my friends whose families were in friendly terms with the Malfoy's, so I figured it was just Scorpius pranking me for avoiding him.

"_I suggest you be careful with what you say around them,_" he said, though it sounded more like an order or a threat. _"They do not know you are from the future._"

Both my eyebrows flew up this time and my mouth dropped again. My frown came back then when I remembered this was all just a silly, childish prank.

"Okay, where are the hidden cameras?" I growled. "Don't bother acting anymore. I know this is a prank!"

Draco and Lucius shared a look, while Voldemort glared hard at me.

"_What did I just say?"_ he hissed.

"_Oh come on, Voldemort died in 1998," _I said. _"There is no way this is real."_

"_Would it be real to you if I cursed you?_" he said.

"_Hmmph, you wouldn't dare," _I laughed, and adopted a smirk. _"This is obviously a prank!_"

And then his hand went to the inside of his robe and he slowly pulled out a wand; it was made from some sort of dark wood, looked at least thirteen inches, and the handle was made of bone. I briefly wondered how he'd obtained Voldemort's old wand, but all thought was lost when he pointed the wand at me and an unforgivable, the incantation for the Cruciatus Curse, also known as the Torture Curse, left his lips. A bright red light shot from the tip of the wand as soon as he cast the spell, and hurtled straight towards me like a bolt of lightning.

Before I could duck or jump out of the way, the curse hit me with a full force and I let out a hair-curling scream as I fell to my knees, my back arched and my eyes wide. I felt like there were one thousand white-hot knives boring into my skin and my head felt like it was going to burst from all the pain. I was a hard-skinned vampire and it still hurt like hell.

The curse ended a few seconds later, but my body still felt as though it were on fire. Slowly, after a few struggled attempts, I stood up and steadied myself against a nearby chair. _Hmmph, I guess the nutter hadn't been joking, then,_ I thought, as a zap of pain shot down to the small of my back. Looking over the Malfoy family, I saw that they were absent mindedly looking away. Scorp-I mean, Draco's eyes darted over to look at me and he looked as though he wanted to help me onto the sofa near him, but we both knew that the Dark Lord would punish him if he helped me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw... my father, raising his wand at me again, so as quick as I could, whilst ignoring the pain, flew back into a crab, and watched as the second curse flew above me, barely missing the tip top of my nose. I sighed in relief and straightened up, brushing off my skinny jeans. I was more aware now, that I should look out for more flying curses sent by Voldemort.

"_Alright, alright,"_ I said, with a sigh, and turned to him. _"You don't have to curse me a thousand times. I believe you. Happy?"_

"_Very," _he said, with a smirk. "Lucius, Draco, you can go."

Draco shot me a look that told me he was curious about me, before Lucius grabbed his arm and tugged. He followed his father obediently from the room, though he did so slowly so he could give me one final once over. I saluted cheekily to him with two fingers, just before the door shut behind him.

"Sit down, Nemesis," said Voldemort, "I have a proposition you must hear."

Eyeing him curiously, I carefully, so as not to mentally injure myself further, lowered myself into the chair that I had previously been leaning against for support. I was not going to disobey him again, otherwise he would shoot the torture curse at me for the second time. I stopped him once, I don't think I could stop him again, not even with my vampire skills.

"I refuse to be defeated by a mere child," he said, as he went and stood by the large white window, staring out into the blackness of the garden, with his arms crossed behind him back and his chin raised slightly higher than normal, "so I must kill Harry Potter. To do this, I am going to need your help."

I opened my mouth to turn down the offer (I was not going to be the cause of James' father's death. Besides, James would never have existed if he was killed), but I was intrigued with such a proposal. Why did Voldemort want Harry killed so badly? Sure, he'd defeated Voldemort, but he'd been a baby. Now Harry was older, why couldn't someone else defeat him?

"Why do you want him dead so badly?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Voldemort's back.

"He is the reason for my short departure," he said, and turned swiftly to face me. "That is reason enough."

"Err... I guess."

And then I suddenly remembered that back in the Harry Potter biography, there had been a prophecy made before Harry was born and it was laying in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic (unless Lucius Malfoy had broken it already – I wasn't sure of what the time era was). The prophecy said that one could not live whilst the other survived, which meant that both could not continue to live at the same time; either one of them had to die. Of course I knew Voldemort would be the dead one, but now I was here, would that all change? Would Harry be the one losing his life instead?

"What is today's date?" I asked, wondering whether or not he knew about the prophecy yet.

"It is the thirtieth of August, nineteen ninety five," he answered.

So that meant the soul-sucking Dementors had already visited fifteen year old Harry and his horrid cousin Dudley Dursley, and that also meant that there was a probability in Voldemort not knowing about the prophecy that explained everything about Harry and Voldemort's past and future. Good.

"What prophecy?"

Had I said that out loud? Oh shit.

"Um... nothing," I lied. "I have _no_ idea what you're talking about."

Voldemort raised his long, bone white wand at me again, threatening to curse me if I kept quiet.

"Just a prophecy... about the future," I answered quickly.

"And...?"

"Well, it explains every that's going on between you and Harry," I said. "You know, like, the secret behind his scar and why you died the night you murdered James and Lily Potter."

I am officially labelling myself as a coward.

"How do you know about this prophecy?" Voldemort asked curiously, raising an invisible eyebrow.

"My, err, friend told me about it," I said, and decided to add a little white lie. "He's one of your ex Death Eaters that I, um... met in Diagon Alley."

"What is this ex Death Eaters name?"

"I didn't quite catch his name," I lied, thankful for my brilliance at acting and lying. "He just told me that I looked a lot like you, so I asked him who you were, and he told me that you were darkest of all Dark Lords, up until Harry Potter killed you in the year... err, I mean, until he killed you, and he told me everything else. He was a very close follower of yours, and he still believes in what you believe in."

"Hmm... I die, do I?"

I sighed a breath of relief, glad that he believed in my bunch of lies. There was no way I was going to tell him about the biography I owned, otherwise he'd want it, and I loved that book, like, a ton. Besides, if I gave it to Voldemort, he'd know everything about had happened in the past and was going to happen, and he'd end up killing Harry and ruling over the world.

"Yeah, you do."

"Do you know what the prophecy said exactly?"

"Err, no. The Death Eater didn't even know what it said, and he was very close to you."

"Hmm, a Death Eater who is close to me..."

He paced along the length of the window, probably pondering on who this close ex Death Eater could be.

"Perhaps it was Lucius... or Severus, even," he said, and that really caught me off guard.

Severus was a _Death Eater?_ He'd never told me that before! And in the past couple of weeks we'd grown as close as a teacher and student could get. He tried not to show that he was worried about me, but I could tell that he was when I came to talk to him about things that were bothering me, or just came to talk to him about any old thing when I was bored. Perhaps this was why? Perhaps he knew that Voldemort had always had a plan to kidnap his daughter from the future and make her help him murder the saviour of the Wizarding World? Had he known all along?

"Yeah, it was probably one of them," I said.

"I shall get this prophecy," he said, "and I shall get it before Dumbledore can, to help his precious little Potter. Perhaps whilst I am at it, I'll lure Potter to me and kill him."

I wondered briefly if this was what had really happened when Voldemort had found out about the prophecy.


	17. Kissing in the Rain

_Authors Note: I want to thank my best friend Niamh, for helping me with this chapter when I was positively stuck on what to write. :') Thank you, I love youuuuu. _

* * *

**Here We Go Again.**

**Chapter Seventeen: Kissing in the Rain.**

I was never one to make deals that would go against my friends, but I desired to have Severus for myself so much that I was leaning towards the snake eyed mans proposition. Whether this was just a teenage crush or I was totally in love with Severus, I don't know. As I was about to ask him again what the job involved me doing, I heard a loud bang from behind me and turned to see that the room's doors had been thrown open and a certain someone had entered.

It was Peaches, standing there panting. I blinked a few times checking to see if she was really there, or had maybe I had just fainted thinking about Severus? When it occurred to me that Peaches really was there, I stepped forward opening her mouth to talk but my best friend spoke first.

"Nemmy, it's good to see you," she said, with a smile.

Peaches heaved a sigh of relief before thinking for a second. I continued to just stare at Peaches in disbelief. What the hell was she doing here?

"How did you get here?" I asked, still in shock.

Peaches let out a light chuckle and tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Well, Scorpius and I went for a walk when we saw you go into the woods," she began to explain, "so we decided to follow you. We hid behind a tree, but we couldn't hear much and so I poked my head around a tree to see you disappear."

She took a breath before continuing. "We ran back to the school and told the professors what I'd had seen. They told us that we had to go to the future to bring you back. So Scorpius and I were given a time turner to come here and I have been searching every room in the house looking for you and then here I am."

I looked at Peaches for a while, taking it all in, before a thought popped into my head.

"Scorpius is here?"

Peaches' face dropped for a second and she backed out of the room, turning her head from left to right, and then walked back into the room with a shrug.

"He must have jet lagged," she said.

Peaches smiled at me and I realized something. Why hadn't she noticed Voldemort? I turned my head to see that he was standing in the dark when suddenly I noticed he was raising his wand to point it at my best friend. Peaches was now moving towards me and I could see snake man was about to cast a spell.

Without a thought, I jumped in front of Peaches and glared hard at him with my piercing green eyes. "Don't you dare touch her," I hissed in my secret tongue. "She is harmless!"

Voldemort looked me in the eyes and then stared at Peaches before lowering his wand. When he came out from the shadows, Peaches stepped back and whimpered. As I turned to look at her, I saw not fear in her eyes, but anger. Confusion swept over my emotions. Fear I could accept maybe even hatred but anger I did not understand.

Just when I was about to ask what she was angry about, Scorpius burst into the room. Voldemort looked at him with confusion, probably thinking only of him as Draco, but there was obviously a difference. Scorpius smiled at Peaches, and then to me, but stopped dead cold when he saw Voldemort, who walked back into the shadows as to ignore our little get together, but Peaches seemed to not want to ignore him.

"Why is he here?" Peaches shrieked.

She never shouted or even sounded angry, but now her voice was full of rage and pain. I didn't know why she was upset, but the only way I could help her was to be calm.

"Peaches, calm down," I said, and gently took hold of her by her shoulders. "He's the one who brought me here. He's my—he's my father.""

The words left my lips before I could stop them and Peaches froze.

"Father?"

Peaches' voice was cold and she looked betrayed. I nodded, trying to keep eye contact with her. I watched as Peaches felt into her pockets for her wand and took it out quickly, not as if she was going to use it but as if it was there just to protect herself.

"That man—No, that THING is your FATHER?"

Peaches' voice was loud and I couldn't take being calm with her after all the shit I'd been through that night. I didn't need her yelling at me because of stuff she didn't know shit about.

"What do you mean THING?" I yelled back at her. "That's my father you're talking about!"

Peaches was quick to answer. "I mean THING as in the THING that killed my parents!"

I froze. I then noticed Peaches had tears in her eyes. Scorpius had backed off, just in case he was going to get involved. I was angry when I realized she had never told me.

"Wait, what?" I shrieked. "You never told me your parents were dead! You said that they lived in France but you don't get to see them as much?"

Her eyes were cold as she answered. "How was I supposed to say it? Oh, by the way, Nemmy, did you know my parents are dead because He Who Must Not Be Named KILLED THEM!"

I felt a deep surge of rage build up in me. "Well you never tell me anything! How am I supposed to know anything about you when you stay in your stupid little happy land with made up Nymphodites or Farkles that live in people's brains?"

"I never tell you anything?" She laughed sarcastically. "You never tell _me_ anything! You're just a stupid closed up little orphan child who doesn't care about anyone but herself!"

I felt my heart break at that. I did care about other people. Everyone knew that, didn't they? Well, fine. If she didn't want me to be closed up anymore, if she wanted to know what was on my mind, then fine, I'll tell her, the stupid, stuck up brat.

"Fine you want me to tell you stuff? Then let's go. I hate all the stupid creatures you make up; I think you have a terrible sense of fashion; I slept with Scorpius—"

I stopped. Shit! I just told her about me and Scorpius. My eyes drifted over to where Scorpius was standing, only to see that his head had snapped up and his steel grey eyes were looking at me, wondering why the hell I just said that. I gulped, and then bit my lip and shrugged. He was going to give me hell later for telling her that.

Peaches' voice came out in a whimper. "You slept with Scorpius...?"

I didn't, couldn't move, when I turned to look at her. She looked like she wanted to hatch my head off my neck. The silence was enough of an answer for Peaches.

"YOU SLEPT WITH SCORPIUS?" she shrieked. "What about James? Oh my gosh, you could have any guy you want and you get James, but you go behind his back and sleep with SCORPIUS?"

Not feeling guilty, not even sad anymore, I growled. "Why do you care anyway?"

"BECAUSE I LIKE SCORPIUS!"

The whole room froze and my mouth fell open. Peaches had a crush on Scorpius? Peaches gulped and tears began to build up in her eyes. She backed out of the room, and then quickly turning around, she fled out of the door, turning right and running down the hallway. Knowing her, she would probably just climb out of the window and go cry in a tree for a few hours until she calmed down, so I wasn't bothered about going after her.

I turned to Scorpius and he hadn't moved an inch since I'd last looked at him. Did he feel the same way? I can't believe that I didn't know. I was supposed to be Peaches' best friend. Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn't care about anyone but myself.

Scorpius made his way out of the room to go after Peaches. I decided to leave them. Scorpius was the Slytherin player, he would use his charm and convince Peaches that she didn't really like him, just to try and make everything all right... or would he play Peaches, but she was one girl who couldn't be played, not even by him.

There was one question in my mind that confused me though. She was a Veela. If she wanted Scorpius to like her then why didn't she just use her power? It would have been a much simpler way to do things, a much easier way to get guys.

I turned around to look at my father and then walked towards him. Then turning around, I leaned against the wall and slid down it, dropping my head in my hands.

Why didn't she tell me?

_(Peaches' Point of View)_

I felt the tears trickle down my cheeks as I reached a large window at the end of the hallway. Pushing it open, I looked out to see vines clinging to the left side. I clambered out of the window and began to make my way down the green vines. I jumped off at the bottom and turned to see a large peach tree standing strong behind the manor. For a moment I forgot everything and let out a small giggle at the irony of the tree. I then remembered why I had been upset and ran straight to the tree.

Grasping a branch, I climbed up and stopped around a quarter of the way up the tree. Leaning against the trunk, I stretched my legs out on the branches. The tears flowed down my face as I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my hysterical crying. Even though I was trying to stop the tears just came stronger.

Suddenly I heard a crunching noise beneath the tree. My tears stopped as I was curious to find out whom or what was making the noise. Looking over the edge, I saw a figure. I was unable to see who it was and made my way carefully down a few branches. Looking down again, I saw the tint of blonde hair. Scorpius. I tried to pull my head back but felt my foot slip, making me fall.

I fell quickly, feeling like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, but just as I passed the last branch; my arm flung out and grabbed it, stopping myself from hitting the hard ground. I didn't realize I had closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I saw Scorpius staring at me. My arm was beginning to hurt, so I let go and landed on the ground perfectly. When I stood up I noticed that Scorpius must have moved forward because his body was only about two feet away from me.

I stared into his grey eyes thinking about however much I wanted to hate him I found him ever more attractive right now than I ever had before.

"What do you want?"

My voice came out like spears at Scorpius and I saw him slightly flinch at my tone.

"I wanted to explain," he said, staring at the ground.

I laughed sarcastically. "Explain? Explain! What is there to explain? You had sex with Nemesis, a girl who is dating James, who happens to be your best friend. Explain that to me!"

I was going into hysterics again. I hadn't been angry in years, not since I was seven WHEN I had asked my auntie for a pony but she hadn't given me one. I had ended up screaming at her and smashing the fish tank. Scorpius looked at the ground ashamed. I decided right there that I wasn't going to be the nice girl anymore.

"Exactly!" I laughed. "Now why don't you just go and run back to Nemesis, yeah? You must obviously love her!"

I felt the anger build up inside me and decided that I would go into the forest behind the house and go back to the future just to get away from the past. Just as I was going to run away from this place, he burst into my thoughts harshly.

"You think I love Nemesis?"

I had no words to say so I just nodded.

"What Nemesis and I did?" he began. "That was just the heat of the moment. In all honesty, it meant nothing and I regret it ever happening!"

I couldn't tell whether he was lying or not, but at the moment, I just wanted to believe that he was telling the truth.

"Really?"

He stepped forward and took my hands in his. "Really, truthfully, honestly."

Scorpius was about half a foot taller than me and I had to look up into his eyes. He looked very sincere so I nodded slightly before speaking.

"So, why are you here?" I asked.

Scorpius sighed. "I'm here because I thought about it," he said. "I thought about how you said you like me, and when I first met you, I liked you, too. But then I got to know you and I thought that I didn't deserve you, so I put the feelings into the back of my head."

"That day I slept with Nemesis, I hadn't been thinking of it until I saw you and I needed to stop myself from thinking of you that way, so when me and Nemesis kissed, I went along with it because I couldn't think of you in that way. But now that I just heard you like me back, so I needed to tell you how I really felt."

I could feel myself falling for him even more. He looked lovingly me in the eyes and he stepped forward again, his hand moving up to rest on my cheek, his head moved forward and I felt some rain drops hit the top of my head as he closed the space between us and his lips touched mine. I had been waiting for this kiss forever, ever since the first moment I laid eyes on Scorpius. I had wanted to kiss him so badly and now I was.

His hand stayed on my cheek whilst the other curved round my waist. The rain was pelting on top of us and it was like a dream come true. The moment was something out of a fairytale.

We were kissing in the rain.

_(Nemesis'' Point of View.)_

After a few moments of torturous silence, I decided I was going to go and find them. I ignored my father and made my way out of the room. Being the amazing vampire that I am, I just climbed onto the windowsill and leaped out. I landed perfectly onto two feet without even injuring myself. I took my time walking around to find them though.

As I did, I thought of how Peaches was right about me not caring about anyone else. I had left that train years ago and I never chose to get back onto the route of caring. Nobody had cared about me for years, so why should I care about anyone else but me?

My thoughts changed as I finally got around the large Manor. I saw two figures underneath a tree. From where I stood, it looked like they were hugging. I guessed Scorpius and Peaches talked it out and everything was okay again. Smiling cheerfully, I moved closer, only to realize how wrong I had been.

Peaches and Scorpius were kissing in the rain.

Ugh. Kissing in the rain. When I was younger I had watched stupid romance movies about how the guy would kiss the girl in the rain and then be together forever. I once thought it would be sweet, but as I got older I needed a sick bucket whenever I heard someone talking about it. Now I was watching it. The rain pelted on me and suddenly I felt very alone. I didn't think I would care this much about a guy who I didn't even like kissing my best friend who had just told me that she had a crush on the guy I had sex with.

My feet moved backwards without me even realising and soon I hit a wall of the manor. Before they could notice me, I jumped back into the manor through the window and ran at full speed to the room I had just been in. Entering I looked my father in the eyes. For a millisecond he looked concerned for me, but it was wiped away as I quickly moved forward, ready to make the decision that could either destroy my life or make my pain all better.

"I accept your proposition."


End file.
